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Toxins Feb 2019Most ribbon worms (phylum: Nemertea) are found in marine environments, where they act as predators and scavengers. They are characterized by an eversible proboscis that... (Review)
Review
Most ribbon worms (phylum: Nemertea) are found in marine environments, where they act as predators and scavengers. They are characterized by an eversible proboscis that isused to hunt for prey and thick mucus covering their skin. Both proboscis and epidermal mucus mediate toxicity to predators and preys. Research into the chemical nature of the substances that render toxicity has not been extensive, but it has nevertheless led to the identification of several compounds of potential medicinal use or for application in biotechnology. This review provides a complete account of the current status of research into nemertean toxins.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Invertebrates; Phylogeny; Toxins, Biological
PubMed: 30781381
DOI: 10.3390/toxins11020120 -
Journal of Neurogenetics Jun 2016Following considerable progress on the molecular and cellular basis of taste perception in fly sensory neurons, the time is now ripe to explore how taste information,... (Review)
Review
Following considerable progress on the molecular and cellular basis of taste perception in fly sensory neurons, the time is now ripe to explore how taste information, integrated with hunger and satiety, undergo a sensorimotor transformation to lead to the motor actions of feeding behavior. I examine what is known of feeding circuitry in adult flies from more than 250 years of work in larger flies and from newer work in Drosophila. I review the anatomy of the proboscis, its muscles and their functions (where known), its motor neurons, interneurons known to receive taste inputs, interneurons that diverge from taste circuitry to provide information to other circuits, interneurons from other circuits that converge on feeding circuits, proprioceptors that influence the motor control of feeding, and sites of integration of hunger and satiety on feeding circuits. In spite of the several neuron types now known, a connected pathway from taste inputs to feeding motor outputs has yet to be found. We are on the threshold of an era where these individual components will be assembled into circuits, revealing how nervous system architecture leads to the control of behavior.
Topics: Animals; Drosophila; Feeding Behavior; Motor Neurons
PubMed: 27309215
DOI: 10.1080/01677063.2016.1177047 -
BMJ Open Ophthalmology 2021Proboscis lateralis (PL) is a rare congenital malformation of the craniofacial structure with varied clinical associations. None of the studies documented a discrete... (Review)
Review
Proboscis lateralis (PL) is a rare congenital malformation of the craniofacial structure with varied clinical associations. None of the studies documented a discrete review of ophthalmic presentations in PL. The principal aim of the present study is to explore the ophthalmic manifestations of PL. The ancillary goal is to derive a relationship between congenital deformity in PL and various ophthalmic anomalies. Databases were searched in order to obtain articles related to PL. A qualitative systematic analysis of 100 subjects was performed. In PL, eyelid coloboma (32.6%) is the most common ocular feature, followed by hypertelorism (25.3%), iris coloboma (22.4%), lacrimal system abnormality (20.7%), malpositioned eyebrow (14.4%) and retinochoroidal coloboma (12.9%). Sinonasal deformity is the most common systemic abnormality, detected in 87.9% of cases of PL, as compared with central nervous system involvement (56.2%) and other anomalies. The analysis showed a strong significant association between brain abnormalities and hypertelorism (p=0.000) and between brain abnormalities and micro-ophthalmia/anophthalmia (p=0.000). Statistically significant association was noted between cumulative ocular abnormalities and cumulative systemic abnormalities (p=0.001). The present study on PL reviewed the salient features of this rare congenital disorder. The study outcome provides a new aspect to concomitant ocular abnormalities. This study supports the view that other congenital anomalies in cases of PL had significant influence on certain ophthalmic anomalies.
PubMed: 34395913
DOI: 10.1136/bmjophth-2020-000558 -
The Journal of Craniofacial SurgeryThe case of a female patient who was born with proboscis lateralis, choanal atresia, and telecanthus is submitted. A report is made on the initial management of this... (Review)
Review
The case of a female patient who was born with proboscis lateralis, choanal atresia, and telecanthus is submitted. A report is made on the initial management of this patient, the clinical follow-up that has been carried out so far, and a review of the literature is conducted, taking into account the limited information found in this specific pathology, in order to contribute to its diagnostic orientation and treatment from a plastic and craniofacial surgery point of view.
Topics: Humans; Female; Choanal Atresia; Craniofacial Abnormalities
PubMed: 37983369
DOI: 10.1097/SCS.0000000000009869 -
Toxicon : Official Journal of the... Feb 2019Comprising of over a million described species of highly diverse invertebrates, Arthropoda is amongst the most successful animal lineages to have colonized aerial,... (Review)
Review
Comprising of over a million described species of highly diverse invertebrates, Arthropoda is amongst the most successful animal lineages to have colonized aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic domains. Venom, one of the many fascinating traits to have evolved in various members of this phylum, has underpinned their adaptation to diverse habitats. Over millions of years of evolution, arthropods have evolved ingenious ways of delivering venom in their targets for self-defence and predation. The morphological diversity of venom delivery apparatus in arthropods is astounding, and includes extensively modified pedipalps, tail (telson), mouth parts (hypostome), fangs, appendages (maxillulae), proboscis, ovipositor (stinger), and hair (urticating bristles). Recent investigations have also unravelled an astonishing venom biocomplexity with molecular scaffolds being recruited from a multitude of protein families. Venoms are a remarkable bioresource for discovering lead compounds in targeted therapeutics. Several components with prospective applications in the development of advanced lifesaving drugs and environment friendly bio-insecticides have been discovered from arthropod venoms. Despite these fascinating features, the composition, bioactivity, and molecular evolution of venom in several arthropod lineages remains largely understudied. This review highlights the prevalence of venom, its mode of toxic action, and the evolutionary dynamics of venom in Arthropoda, the most speciose phylum in the animal kingdom.
Topics: Animals; Arthropod Venoms; Arthropods; Biological Evolution; Ecosystem; Phylogeny
PubMed: 30529476
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2018.11.433 -
Biology Nov 2022flies use their proboscis to taste and distinguish edible compounds from toxic compounds. With their proboscis, flies can detect sex pheromones at a close distance or...
flies use their proboscis to taste and distinguish edible compounds from toxic compounds. With their proboscis, flies can detect sex pheromones at a close distance or by contact. Most of the known proteins associated with probosci's detection belong to gustatory receptor families. To extend our knowledge of the proboscis-taste proteins involved in chemo-detection, we used a proteomic approach to identify soluble proteins from Drosophila females and males. This investigation, performed with hundreds of dissected proboscises, was initiated by the chromatographic separation of tryptic peptides, followed by tandem mass spectrometry, allowing for femtomole detection sensitivity. We found 586 proteins, including enzymes, that are involved in intermediary metabolism and proteins dedicated to various functions, such as nucleic acid metabolism, ion transport, immunity, digestion, and organ development. Among 60 proteins potentially involved in chemosensory detection, we identified two odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), i.e., OBP56d (which showed much higher expression in females than in males) and OBP19d. Because OBP56d was also reported to be more highly expressed in the antennae of females, this protein can be involved in the detection of both volatile and contact male pheromone(s). Our proteomic study paves the way to better understand the complex role of Drosophila proboscis in the chemical detection of food and pheromonal compounds.
PubMed: 36421401
DOI: 10.3390/biology11111687 -
Cold Spring Harbor Protocols Jun 2023The ability to distinguish between food sources that are good and provide nutrients and those that are potentially dangerous is crucial to the survival of an organism....
The ability to distinguish between food sources that are good and provide nutrients and those that are potentially dangerous is crucial to the survival of an organism. Here, we describe a taste assay that measures the reflexive feeding response to a given tastant. To examine taste preference for a soluble compound, an appetitive tastant is applied to the proboscis, and the proportion of proboscis extensions are recorded. This single-fly assay may be applied to adult of any genetic background and facilities examination of the neural circuitry and molecular processes encoding the reflexive taste response. Furthermore, this assay requires few custom components and therefore can be easily established in laboratories with minimal expertise in the study of fly behavior.
Topics: Animals; Drosophila; Taste; Taste Perception; Feeding Behavior; Biological Assay; Drosophila melanogaster
PubMed: 36787966
DOI: 10.1101/pdb.prot108092 -
Frontiers in Physiology 2022Honeybees () need their fine sense of taste to evaluate nectar and pollen sources. Gustatory receptors (Grs) translate taste signals into electrical responses....
Honeybees () need their fine sense of taste to evaluate nectar and pollen sources. Gustatory receptors (Grs) translate taste signals into electrical responses. experiments have demonstrated collective responses of the whole Gr-set. We here disentangle the contributions of all three honeybee sugar receptors (AmGr1-3), combining CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genetic knock-out, electrophysiology and behaviour. We show an expanded sugar spectrum of the AmGr1 receptor. Mutants lacking AmGr1 have a reduced response to sucrose and glucose but not to fructose. AmGr2 solely acts as co-receptor of AmGr1 but not of AmGr3, as we show by electrophysiology and using bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Our results show for the first time that AmGr2 is indeed a functional receptor on its own. Intriguingly, AmGr2 mutants still display a wildtype-like sugar taste. AmGr3 is a specific fructose receptor and is not modulated by a co-receptor. Eliminating AmGr3 while preserving AmGr1 and AmGr2 abolishes the perception of fructose but not of sucrose. Our comprehensive study on the functions of AmGr1, AmGr2 and AmGr3 in honeybees is the first to combine investigations on sugar perception at the receptor level and simultaneously . We show that honeybees rely on two gustatory receptors to sense all relevant sugars.
PubMed: 36714315
DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1089669 -
Cold Spring Harbor Protocols Jun 2023The ability to modify behavior as a result of previous experience allows an organism to adapt to changes in its environment. Even innate behaviors, like feeding...
The ability to modify behavior as a result of previous experience allows an organism to adapt to changes in its environment. Even innate behaviors, like feeding initiation, can change if previously associated with a noxious stimulus. Here, we describe a taste memory assay pairing appetitive and bitter tastants, resulting in aversive taste conditioning. By training a fly to associate sweet sucrose applied to the tarsus with bitter quinine applied to the proboscis, flies quickly learn to suppress the reflexive proboscis extension to sucrose, providing a bioassay for behavioral and molecular plasticity. This single-fly taste memory assay may be applied to adult of any genetic background and allows for interrogation of the neural circuitry and molecular processes encoding memories while simultaneously measuring behavior. Unlike many other memory assays, this system requires few custom components, and therefore can be easily established in laboratories with minimal expertise in the study of fly behavior.
Topics: Animals; Drosophila; Taste; Taste Perception; Sucrose; Drosophila melanogaster
PubMed: 36787963
DOI: 10.1101/pdb.prot108093