Dataset Information

Why do chitons curl into a ball?

ABSTRACT: Many animals with external armour, such as hedgehogs, isopods and trilobites, curl into a protective ball when disturbed. However, in situations where predators would engulf an exposed animal whole, regardless of position, conglobation may provide limited added defence and the benefits were previously unclear. We show that polyplacophoran molluscs (chitons) are three times less likely to spend time curled into a ball in the presence of a predator. When the cue of a potential predator is present, animals instead spend significantly more time in active, high risk, high reward behaviours such as arching, balancing on the head and tail ends of their girdle and pushing the soft foot up into an exposed position. Arching increases vulnerability, but also can increase the likelihood of rapidly encountering new substratum that would allow the animal to right itself. In some other animals, the ability to roll into a ball is associated with rolling away from danger. Curling into a ball would improve mobility, to be rolled on to a safer position, but reattachment is the higher priority for chitons in the face of danger.

SUBMITTER: Sigwart JD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6832185 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Why do chitons curl into a ball?

Sigwart Julia D JD Vermeij Geerat J GJ Hoyer Peter P

Biology letters 20191002 10

Many animals with external armour, such as hedgehogs, isopods and trilobites, curl into a protective ball when disturbed. However, in situations where predators would engulf an exposed animal whole, regardless of position, conglobation may provide limited added defence and the benefits were previously unclear. We show that polyplacophoran molluscs (chitons) are three times less likely to spend time curled into a ball in the presence of a predator. When the cue of a potential predator is present, ...[more]

PMID: 31573429

Similar Datasets

Project description:Transcript profiles of Postia placenta grown on media containing ball-milled aspen or ball-milled pine as the sole carbon source were analyzed. Array design was based on the DoE's Joint Genome Institute's gene models for P. placenta version 1. The research goal is to identtify genes essential for cellulose depolymerization. From a data set of 12,438 unique alleles, each NimbleGen (Madison, WI) array featured 10 unique 60mers per gene, all in triplicate. The dataset was manually annotated to include only the ‘best allelic model’ among CAZY-encoding genes. Total RNA was purified from medium containing ball-milled aspen or ball-milled pine as the sole carbon source. Three biological replicates per medium were used (6 separate arrays). RNA was converted to double-strand cDNA and labeled with the Cy3 fluorophore sample for hybridization to the Postia placenta MAD-698 whole genome expression array by Roche NimbleGen (Iceland). In brief, 10ug of total RNA was incubated with 1X first strand buffer, 10 mM DTT, 0.5mM dNTPs, 100 pM oligo T7 d(T)24 primer, and 200 units of SuperScript II (Invitrogen) for 60 min at 42°C. Second strand cDNA was synthesized by incubation with 1X second strand buffer, 0.2mM dNTPs, 0.07 units per ul DNA ligase (Invitrogen), 0.27 units per ul DNA polymerase I (Invitrogen), 0.013 units per ul RNase H (Invitrogen), at 16°C for 2 hours. Immediately following, 10 units T4 DNA polymerase (Invitrogen) was added for additional 5 minute incubation at 16°C. Double-stranded cDNA was treated with 27ng/ul of RNase A (EpiCenter Technologies) for 10 minutes at 37°C. Treated cDNA was purified using an equal volume of phenol:chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (Ambion), ethanol precipitated, washed with 80% ethanol, and resuspended in 20ul water. One ug of each cDNA sample was amplified and labeled with 1 unit per ul of Klenow Fragment (New England BioLabs) and 1 O.D unit of Cy3 fluorophore (TriLink Biotechnologies, Inc.) for 2 hours at 37°C. Array hybridization was carried out with 6ug of labeled cDNA suspended in NimbleGen hybridization solution for 17 hours at 42°C.

Project description:BackgroundBegomoviruses are whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses with genomes that consist of either two components (known as DNA A and DNA B) or a single component (homologous to the DNA A component of bipartite begomoviruses). Monopartite begomoviruses are often associated with a symptom-modulating DNA satellite (collectively known as betasatellites). Both bipartite and monopartite begomoviruses with associated satellites have previously been identified in chillies showing leaf curl symptoms in Pakistan.ResultsA chilli plant (Capsicum annum) with chilli leaf curl disease symptoms was found to contain a begomovirus, a betasatellite and the DNA B component of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV). The begomovirus consisted of 2747 nucleotides and had the highest sequence identity (99%) with Pepper leaf curl Lahore virus (PepLCLV-[PK: Lah:04], acc. no. AM404179). Agrobacterium-mediated inoculation of the clone to Nicotiana benthamiana, induced very mild symptoms and low levels of viral DNA, detected in systemically infected leaves by PCR. No symptoms were induced in Nicotiana tabacum or chillies either in the presence or absence of a betasatellite. However, inoculation of PepLCLV with the DNA B component of ToLCNDV induced leaf curl symptoms in N. benthamiana, N. tabacum and chillies and viral DNA accumulated to higher levels in comparison to plants infected with just PepLCLV.ConclusionsBased on our previous efforts aimed at understanding of diversity of begomoviruses associated with chillies, we propose that PepLCLV was recently mobilized into chillies upon its interaction with DNA B of ToLCNDV. Interestingly, the putative rep-binding iterons found on PepLCLV (GGGGAC) differ at two base positions from those of ToLCNDV (GGTGTC). This is the first experimental demonstration of the infectivity for a bipartite begomovirus causing chilli leaf curl disease in chillies from Pakistan and suggests that component capture is contributing to the emerging complexity of begomovirus diseases in the region.

Dataset Information

Why do chitons curl into a ball?

Publications

Why do chitons curl into a ball?

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets