scholarly journals Drosophila glue protects from predation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Borne ◽  
Stéphane R. Prigent ◽  
Mathieu Molet ◽  
Virginie Courtier-Orgogozo

AbstractAnimals can be permanently attached to a substrate for several days, weeks or months in aerial environments at certain stages of their development such as eggs and pupae. Pupa adhesion has evolved multiple times in insects and is thought to maintain the animal in a place where it is not detectable by predators. Here, we investigate whether pupa adhesion in Drosophila could also protect the animal by preventing potential predators from detaching the pupa. We measured the adhesion of Drosophila species originating from the same area and found that pupa adhesion varies among species, which can be explained by different glue production strategies. Then, we compared attached and manually detached pupae in both field and laboratory assays to investigate the role of pupa adhesion to prevent predation. First, we found that attached pupae remain on site 30 % more than detached pupae in the field after three days, probably because they are less predated. Second, we observed that attached pupae are less efficiently predated by ants in the laboratory, because they are not carried back to the ant nest and because more ants are needed to consume them onsite. Our results show that pupa adhesion is a crucial mechanical trait for Drosophila fly survival that can prevent the animal from being taken away by predators.

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1947) ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Borne ◽  
Stéphane R. Prigent ◽  
Mathieu Molet ◽  
Virginie Courtier-Orgogozo

Animals can be permanently attached to a substrate in terrestrial environments at certain stages of their development. Pupa adhesion has evolved multiple times in insects and is thought to maintain the animal in a place where it is not detectable by predators. Here, we investigate whether pupa adhesion in Drosophila can also protect the animal by preventing potential predators from detaching the pupa. We measured the adhesion of Drosophila species sampled from the same area and found that pupa adhesion varies among species, which can be explained by different glue production strategies. Then, we compared attached and manually detached pupae in both field and laboratory assays to investigate the role of pupa adhesion to prevent predation. First, we found that attached pupae remain onsite 30% more than detached pupae in the field after 3 days, probably because they are less predated. Second, we observed that attached pupae are less efficiently predated by ants in the laboratory: they are not carried back to the ant nest and more ants are needed to consume them onsite. Our results show that pupa adhesion can prevent the animal from being taken away by predators and is crucial for Drosophila fly survival.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 4499
Author(s):  
Xiao Hu ◽  
Samuel Ricci ◽  
Sebastian Naranjo ◽  
Zachary Hill ◽  
Peter Gawason

Electrically responsive biomaterials are an important and emerging technology in the fields of biomedical and material sciences. A great deal of research explores the integral role of electrical conduction in normal and diseased cell biology, and material scientists are focusing an even greater amount of attention on natural and hybrid materials as sources of biomaterials which can mimic the properties of cells. This review establishes a summary of those efforts for the latter group, detailing the current materials, theories, methods, and applications of electrically conductive biomaterials fabricated from protein polymers and polysaccharides. These materials can be used to improve human life through novel drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and biosensing technologies. The immediate goal of this review is to establish fabrication methods for protein and polysaccharide-based materials that are biocompatible and feature modular electrical properties. Ideally, these materials will be inexpensive to make with salable production strategies, in addition to being both renewable and biocompatible.


Author(s):  
Simona Naspetti ◽  
Serena Mandolesi ◽  
Jeroen Buysse ◽  
Terhi Latvala ◽  
Philippa Nicholas ◽  
...  

The goal of the study was to assess the farmers’ acceptance of three sustainable production strategies, namely ‘Agro-forestry’, ‘Alternative protein source’ and ‘Prolonged maternal feeding’. Data on the acceptance of these strategies were collected by a survey of dairy farmers in six EU countries (AT, BE, DK, FI, IT, UK). An extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was applied by means of Structural Equation Modelling to testing various hypotheses on attitudes and intentions of dairy farmers towards these novel production strategies, as well as the influence of organic practices and collaborative behaviours along the supply chain. We found that the most preferred strategy - across all countries - was soy substitution by alternative protein sources. We also found that the intention to adopt a sustainable production strategy may derive from the influence of opinions (and behaviours) of relevant others, showing the role of interactions among farmers and other stakeholders in the adoption of innovations. Finally, the perceived usefulness of all investigated strategies is higher for organic farmers, while collaborative patterns reduce the impact of subjective norm on usefulness and overall acceptance. Our findings should encourage policy makers to consider the important role of supply chain management practices, including collaboration, to enhance the sustainability of dairy farming systems.


2000 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine R.B. Boake ◽  
Debra K. Andreadis ◽  
Angela Witzel

1981 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadanand Singh ◽  
Mary Ellen Hayden ◽  
Margaret Stutts Toombs

Articulation errors of 1,077 children of various ages, etiologies, and sexes were taken from several standardized articulation tests. The Singh and Singh (1976) distinctive feature system was used to produce profiles for each subgroup for consonant phonemes in the initial, medial, and final word positions. Distinctive features were used with different degrees of importance causing hierarchial orders among the features. The hierarchy of features established in this study was consistent with those found in previous studies. It was more pronounced for the initial position than for the medial and final positions, and for the younger age groups as compared with the older groups. In addition, the feature hierarchy for the articulation-disordered group was more distinct than that for the language group. Females revealed a generally superior performance to males, but this superiority was in general not statistically significant. Findings are discussed as to their relevance in the overall application of a phonological theory to speech production strategies.


Author(s):  
Michael Morrison

<span>Recent investigations into the role of shell mounds in late Holocene Aboriginal economies in northern Australia have focussed on one of the key constituents in mound sites: the intertidal bivalve, </span><em>Tegillarca granosa</em><span> (formerly </span><em>Anadara granosa</em><span>). Various researchers have suggested that shell mounds were constructed during production activities that were predominantly oriented towards exploitation of estuarine or marine ecosystems, with other resources being of secondary or supplementary importance during these times. Proponents of this model concede that it requires ongoing evaluation in relation to new quantitative data on mound composition, stratigraphy and chronology from shell mound sites across a range of different environmental contexts. At Weipa, in western Cape York Peninsula, recent research has been oriented toward collecting new data necessary for investigating the role of mound sites and the production strategies associated with their formation. In this paper, the results of excavations and analysis of a series of shell mounds at Prunung (Red Beach), to the north of Weipa, are presented. These results support the view that mound construction took place in the context of production activities strategically oriented towards intertidal flats, rather than broadly-based foraging within local site catchments, or a more generalised ‘estuarine’ orientation.</span>


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (22) ◽  
pp. 12249
Author(s):  
Martha Inés Vélez-Mercado ◽  
Alicia Guadalupe Talavera-Caro ◽  
Karla María Escobedo-Uribe ◽  
Salvador Sánchez-Muñoz ◽  
Miriam Paulina Luévanos-Escareño ◽  
...  

Production of biofuels and other value-added products from lignocellulose breakdown requires the coordinated metabolic activity of varied microorganisms. The increasing global demand for biofuels encourages the development and optimization of production strategies. Optimization in turn requires a thorough understanding of the microbial mechanisms and metabolic pathways behind the formation of each product of interest. Hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass is a bottleneck in its industrial use and often affects yield efficiency. The accessibility of the biomass to the microorganisms is the key to the release of sugars that are then taken up as substrates and subsequently transformed into the desired products. While the effects of different metabolic intermediates in the overall production of biofuel and other relevant products have been studied, the role of proteins and their activity under anaerobic conditions has not been widely explored. Shifts in enzyme production may inform the state of the microorganisms involved; thus, acquiring insights into the protein production and enzyme activity could be an effective resource to optimize production strategies. The application of proteomic analysis is currently a promising strategy in this area. This review deals on the aspects of enzymes and proteomics of bioprocesses of biofuels production using lignocellulosic biomass as substrate.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. e25520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micael Reis ◽  
Cristina P. Vieira ◽  
Ramiro Morales-Hojas ◽  
Bruno Aguiar ◽  
Hélder Rocha ◽  
...  

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