Terebelliformia is a benthic group of marine annelid worms. The bioluminescence of several species has been reported in taxonomical and histological literature, but very little information is known about the biochemical aspects of this phenomenon. In this study, we examined the basic properties of the luminescence system using an extract of the Japanese terebelliform worm, Thelepus japonicus. The bioluminescence extract was soluble in water, and emitted blue-green light at λ 508 nm following the addition of divalent cations. This triggering action was highly specific to Fe and addition of ATP, H O or coelenterazine did not enhance activity. The bioluminescence was inactivated by heat treatment and organic solvents, indicating the involvement of a protein component. These results suggested that Thelepus worm produces light using a novel system that differs from that in other known luminescent annelids.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bio.3643 | DOI Listing |
Zootaxa
July 2020
CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, EPOC, UMR 5805, Station Marine d'Arcachon, 33120 Arcachon, France..
Telothelepodidae and Thelepodidae from French waters are revised based on material available in French marine stations and newly collected specimens. This work is the second part of the Spaghetti Project aiming to revise French species of "Spaghetti" worms. It describes three new species using both morphological and molecular tools: Streblosoma cabiochi n.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Parasitol
September 2020
Meguro Parasitological Museum, Tokyo 153-0064, Japan.
Some fish blood flukes of the genus Cardicola (Aporocotylidae) are considered important pathogens of farmed/ranched tuna, Thunnus spp. Infections with Cardicola spp. might obstruct the blood flow in the gills via massive accumulations of eggs and often lead to mass mortalities in captive tuna.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLuminescence
September 2019
Department of Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan.
Terebelliformia is a benthic group of marine annelid worms. The bioluminescence of several species has been reported in taxonomical and histological literature, but very little information is known about the biochemical aspects of this phenomenon. In this study, we examined the basic properties of the luminescence system using an extract of the Japanese terebelliform worm, Thelepus japonicus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtist
August 2014
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Program in Integrated Microbial Biodiversity, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, #3529 - 6270 University Blvd., Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Gregarine apicomplexans are a diverse group of single-celled parasites that have feeding stages (trophozoites) and gamonts that generally inhabit the extracellular spaces of invertebrate hosts living in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Inferences about the evolutionary morphology of gregarine apicomplexans are being incrementally refined by molecular phylogenetic data, which suggest that several traits associated with the feeding cells of gregarines arose by convergent evolution. The study reported here supports these inferences by showing how molecular data reveals traits that are phylogenetically misleading within the context of comparative morphology alone.
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