DOCSLIB.ORG

Neuronal Control of Leech Behavior William B

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Neuronal Control of Leech Behavior William B Progress in Neurobiology 76 (2005) 279–327 www.elsevier.com/locate/pneurobio Neuronal control of leech behavior William B. Kristan Jr.a, Ronald L. Calabrese b, W. Otto Friesen c,* a Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, 9500 Gilman Dr., University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0357, USA b Department of Biology, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA c Department of Biology, Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400328, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4328, USA Received 7 April 2005; received in revised form 23 August 2005; accepted 26 September 2005 Abstract The medicinal leech has served as an important experimental preparation for neuroscience research since the late 19th century. Initial anatomical and developmental studies dating back more than 100 years ago were followed by behavioral and electrophysiological investigations in the first half of the 20th century. More recently, intense studies of the neuronal mechanisms underlying leech movements have resulted in detailed descriptions of six behaviors described in this review; namely, heartbeat, local bending, shortening, swimming, crawling, and feeding. Neuroethological studies in leeches are particularly tractable because the CNS is distributed and metameric, with only 400 identifiable, mostly paired neurons in segmental ganglia. An interesting, yet limited, set of discrete movements allows students of leech behavior not only to describe the underlying neuronal circuits, but also interactions among circuits and behaviors. This review provides descriptions of six behaviors including their origins within neuronal circuits, their modification by feedback loops and neuromodulators, and interactions between circuits underlying with these behaviors. # 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Elemental oscillators; Interneurons; Serotonin Contents 1. Introduction . ................................................................................ 280 1.1. Anatomy and electrophysiology ............................................................... 282 1.2. The hydroskeleton and behaviors . ........................................................... 284 2. Circulation and heartbeat ........................................................................ 285 2.1. The heartbeat neural control system of the leech ................................................... 286 2.2. The elemental oscillators. ................................................................... 286 2.3. Mechanisms of oscillation in an elemental half-center oscillator . ...................................... 286 2.4. Coordination in the beat timing network . ....................................................... 287 2.5. Heartbeat motor pattern switching by switch interneurons . .......................................... 288 2.6. Gaps in our current knowledge ............................................................... 290 3. Overt behaviors . ............................................................................ 290 3.1. Introduction . ............................................................................ 290 3.2. Local bending . ........................................................................ 290 3.2.1. Motor neurons . ................................................................... 290 3.2.2. Mechanosensory neurons that produce local bending .......................................... 293 3.2.3. Local bend interneurons . ........................................................... 293 3.2.4. The local bend response as a directed behavior .............................................. 295 3.2.5. Gaps in our current knowledge . ....................................................... 295 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 434 982 5493; fax: +1 434 982 5626. E-mail address: [email protected] (W.O. Friesen). 0301-0082/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2005.09.004 280 W.B. Kristan Jr. et al. / Progress in Neurobiology 76 (2005) 279–327 3.3. Shortening .............................................................................. 296 3.3.1. Whole-body shortening . ............................................................. 296 3.3.2. Local shortening. ................................................................. 296 3.3.3. Gaps in our knowledge . ............................................................. 297 3.4. Swimming .............................................................................. 298 3.4.1. History: reflex chain versus central pattern generator . ........................................ 298 3.4.2. Swimming behavior and motor control . ................................................. 298 3.4.3. Central oscillator circuits. ............................................................. 300 3.4.4. Control of swimming activity . ......................................................... 300 3.4.5. Neuromodulatory control: serotonin and other biogenic amines . ................................ 302 3.4.6. Role of sensory feedback ............................................................. 304 3.4.7. Functional aspects of the central oscillator ................................................. 306 3.4.8. Gaps in our current knowledge ......................................................... 308 3.5. Vermiform crawling . ..................................................................... 308 3.5.1. Behavior ......................................................................... 308 3.5.2. Kinematics . ..................................................................... 309 3.5.3. Motor neuron activity . ............................................................. 309 3.5.4. Sensory input. ..................................................................... 309 3.5.5. Models .......................................................................... 311 3.5.6. Initiation of crawling . ............................................................. 312 3.5.7. Gaps in our current knowledge ......................................................... 313 3.6. Feeding . .............................................................................. 313 3.6.1. Behavior ......................................................................... 313 3.6.2. Chemosensation . ................................................................. 314 3.6.3. Motor patterns ..................................................................... 314 3.6.4. Regulation and plasticity . ............................................................. 314 3.6.5. Gaps in our knowledge . ............................................................. 314 3.7. Interactions among behaviors................................................................. 315 3.8. Methodologies and approaches for further research ................................................. 316 3.8.1. Functional indicator dyes ............................................................. 316 3.8.2. Modeling......................................................................... 318 3.8.3. Plasticity ......................................................................... 318 3.8.4. Development . ..................................................................... 319 4. Conclusion .................................................................................. 319 Acknowledgements . .......................................................................... 320 References .................................................................................. 320 1. Introduction Teshiba et al., 2001; Prinz et al., 2003; Beenhakker et al., 2004), insects (Sasaki and Burrows, 2003; Wang et al., 2003; The major goal of neurobiology is to understand how Riley et al., 2003; Wilson et al., 2004; Daly et al., 2004), the brain works: how it senses the external world and internal amphibians (Roberts et al., 1999; Combes et al., 2004), fish states, how it processes this sensory input, how it evaluates (Higashijima et al., 2003; Grillner, 2003), and rodents different inputs to select an appropriate motor act, and how it (Sekirnjak et al., 2003; Kiehn and Butt, 2003; Yvert et al., generates that behavior. Oneapproachtostudyingthese 2004). questions is to study the function of a particular neural Rhythmic movements such as chewing, respiratory structure (e.g. the superior colliculus or the habenular movements, locomotory movements, and, in some animals, nucleus) in a complex brain and ask how it works. Another heartbeat are of particular interest because of their approach is to select a behavior and ask how the properties combination of complex dynamics and relative stereotypy of neurons and their interconnections produce that behavior. (Marder and Calabrese, 1996; Stein et al., 1997; Orlovsky The latter approach is the more direct, but is possible only et al., 1999). Oscillatory networks of central neurons in animals with relatively simple nervous systems, or in are important components of most such motor pattern- selected parts of complex nervous systems with neurons that generating networks. The anatomical wiring and synaptic are identifiable from animal to animal. For example, connectivity within a network is the backbone on which behavioral circuits have been described in a number of such intrinsic and synaptic properties of component neurons animals: mollusks (Arshavsky et al., 1998; Satterlie et al., operate to produce network dynamics. The states of these 2000; Brembs et al., 2002; Dembrow et al., 2003; Sakurai intrinsic and synaptic
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Continental Slope Communities Tom Laidig
    Continental Slope Communities Tom Laidig Summary and Introduction In the shallow coastal areas of the Gulf of the Farallones, as in other regions of the world, fishing pressure has increased and numbers of fish have decreased over the past few decades. As many fish stocks have declined, some fishermen have been forced to look elsewhere to fill their nets. Traditional fishing grounds in the gulf have been located on the Continental Shelf, a rather flat, relatively shallow area of the sea floor adjacent to the coast. At a depth of about 200 m (660 ft), the bottom starts to drop off more rapidly on what is called the Continental Slope. It is on upper and middle parts of this steeper slope that the new fishing grounds have been established. Because the fish inhabiting these deeper waters are less understood than those in shallower water, there is a danger of overharvesting, which could threaten the long- term viability of these newer fisheries. The deep waters of the Continental Slope are characterized by nearly freezing temperatures, extremely low light conditions, and very high pressures. Because of the cold, organisms that live at these depths have slower metabolisms—they eat less frequently, are slower in digesting their food, and move and grow more slowly. They also attain greater ages than their counterparts that live in shallower waters—some deep-sea rockfish live more than 70 years. Many of the animals living in the perpetual darkness of the Continental Slope have developed light-producing organs. These serve various functions, such as communicating with members of their own kind (as in courtship), attracting food (like attracting moths to a flame), and avoiding being eaten (flashing a light in a predator’s eyes can give an animal a chance to get away).
    [Show full text]
  • Bloodlines: Mammals, Leeches, and Conservation in Southern Asia
    Page 17 of 37 Systematics and Biodiversity 1 2 3 4 Bloodlines: mammals, leeches, and conservation in 5 6 7 southern Asia 8 9 10 1,2,3 4 3 11 MICHAEL TESSLER , SARAH R. WEISKOPF , LILY BERNIKER , REBECCA 12 13 HERSCH2, KYLE P. McCARTHY4, DOUGLAS W. YU5,6 & MARK E. SIDDALL1,2,3 14 15 16 17 1 18 Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 19 20 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA 21 22 2Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, Central 23 24 25 Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA 26 3 27 Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 28 29 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA 30 31 4Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, 531 South College 32 33 34 Avenue, Newark, DE 19716, USA 35 36 5State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, 32 37 38 Jiaochang Dong Lu, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China 39 40 6 41 School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, 42 43 Norfolk NR4 7TJ UK 44 45 46 47 48 Running title: Mammals, leeches, and conservation 49 50 Correspondence to: Michael Tessler. E-mail: [email protected] 51 52 Southern Asia is a biodiversity hotspot both for terrestrial mammals and for leeches. Many 53 54 small-mammal groups are under-studied in this region, while other mammals are of known 55 56 57 58 59 60 URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tsab Tessler et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Tropical Marine Invertebrates CAS BI 569 Phylum ANNELIDA by J
    Tropical Marine Invertebrates CAS BI 569 Phylum ANNELIDA by J. R. Finnerty Phylum ANNELIDA Porifera Ctenophora Cnidaria Deuterostomia Ecdysozoa Lophotrochozoa Chordata Arthropoda Annelida Hemichordata Onychophora Mollusca Echinodermata Nematoda Platyhelminthes Acoelomorpha Silicispongiae Calcispongia PROTOSTOMIA “BILATERIA” (=TRIPLOBLASTICA) Bilateral symmetry (?) Mesoderm (triploblasty) Phylum ANNELIDA Porifera Ctenophora Cnidaria Deuterostomia Ecdysozoa Lophotrochozoa Chordata Arthropoda Annelida Hemichordata Onychophora Mollusca Echinodermata Nematoda Platyhelminthes Acoelomorpha Silicispongiae Calcispongia PROTOSTOMIA “COELOMATA” True coelom Coelomata gut cavity endoderm mesoderm coelom ectoderm [note: dorso-ventral inversion] Phylum ANNELIDA Porifera Ctenophora Cnidaria Deuterostomia Ecdysozoa Lophotrochozoa Chordata Arthropoda Annelida Hemichordata Onychophora Mollusca Echinodermata Nematoda Platyhelminthes Acoelomorpha Silicispongiae Calcispongia PROTOSTOMIA PROTOSTOMIA “first mouth” blastopore contributes to mouth ventral nerve cord The Blastopore ! Forms during gastrulation ectoderm blastocoel blastocoel endoderm gut blastoderm BLASTULA blastopore The Gut “internal, epithelium-lined cavity for the digestion and absorption of food sponges lack a gut simplest gut = blind sac (Cnidaria) blastopore gives rise to dual- function mouth/anus through-guts evolve later Protostome = blastopore contributes to the mouth Deuterostome = blastopore becomes the anus; mouth is a second opening Protostomy blastopore mouth anus Deuterostomy blastopore
    [Show full text]
  • Leeches: a Review on Their Pathogenic and Beneficial Effects
    ary Scien in ce er & t e T Aloto and Eticha, J Vet Sci Technol 2018, 9:1 V e f c h o Journal of Veterinary Science & n DOI: 10.4172/2157-7579.1000511 l o a l n o r g u y o J Technology ISSN: 2157-7579 Review Article Open Access Leeches: A Review on their Pathogenic and Beneficial Effects Desta Aloto1 and Eyob Eticha2* 1Veterinary Drug and Animal Feed Administration and Control Authority, South Region Branch Office, Hawassa, Ethiopia 2Asella Regional Veterinary Laboratory, PO Box 212, Ethiopia *Corresponding author: Eyob Eticha, Asella Regional Veterinary Laboratory, PO Box 212, Ethiopia, Tel: +251913178237; E-mail: [email protected] Rec date: December 23, 2017; Acc date: January 23, 2018; Pub date: January 24, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Aloto D, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Leech is one of the external sanguivorous parasites contributing to the reduction in productivity of livestock in different part of the World. Leeches bite the skin of the host and allow copious flow of blood preventing clot by hirudin. The bite is not painful, but the wounds may bleed for a long time and the clinical signs can be seen following this blood loss. Types of leech vary depending on ways by which they feed. Leech is segmented and lacks as hard exoskeleton; in its place it has a thin, flexible cuticle. For the most part leeches are aquatic, but terrestrial species are also found.
    [Show full text]
  • “Help, There Are Leeches in Our Lake!”
    “Help, there are leeches in our lake!” by Andrea LaMoreaux, Vice President, NH LAKES “Help,” pleaded the caller, “Our lake is polluted—it is full of blood-sucking leeches!” As an aquatic biologist, this is one of the various reasons lake-goers call me during the summer, urging me to find someone or something to fix a problem that is ruining their enjoyment of one of New Hampshire’s approximately 1,000 lakes and ponds. “Don’t worry,” I explained, “Rest assured, by no means does the presence of leeches in your lake mean that your lake is polluted.” The caller on the other end of the phone was unconvinced, so I continued, “Leeches are natural organisms that can be found in most of New Hampshire’s lakes. While there are more than 650 species of leeches in North America, there Leeches are most commonly found in shallow areas are only a few species in New Hampshire known to take of lakes among plants, under rocks, sticks, logs, and blood from a person, and that is only if the right attached to decaying leaves. opportunity arises.” At this point, I emailed the caller some information about where leeches are found, what to do if he got bit by a leech, and how to avoid leaches altogether. I never got a return call back, so I guessed his fears were quelled. In case you aren’t convinced that leeches aren’t a problem, or if you are just curious… What are leeches and where are they found? Leeches are scientifically categorized as annelids (segmented worms) and they are closely related to earthworms.
    [Show full text]
  • Associative Learning Modifies Two Behaviors in the Leech, Hirudo Medicinalis
    The Journal of Neuroscience, December 1988, B(12): 4812-4820 Associative Learning Modifies Two Behaviors in the Leech, Hirudo medicinalis Christie L. Sahleyl and Donald F. Ready* ‘Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06.511, and *Department of Biology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 We report that 2 behaviors, stepping and shortening, are learning in both speciesis dependent on the contingent as well modified by associative learning in the leech, Hirudo medi- as the contiguous relationships between stimuli (Sahley et al., chalk. Experiment 1 explored conditioning of the “step- 1981a, b; Colwill, 1985; Hawkins et al., 1986; Farley, 1987a), ping” response. Paired presentations of touch to the medial just as is learning in vertebrates (Rescorla, 1968, 1969; Kamin, dorsal surface of the leech and shock to the tail of the leech 1969). Moreover, on the mechanistic level, the identified leam- resulted in the development of stepping to the touch. Leech- ing-dependent changesinvolve second-messengermodulation es in control groups experiencing the CS alone, US alone, of K+ channelsof sensoryneurons (Klein et al., 1982; seeCrow, or explicitly unpaired presentations of the CS and US did 1988, for a review). No data, however, addressthe generality not. In experiments 2-4, classical conditioning explored con- of thesecommon themesin other invertebrate phyla. Will con- ditioning of the touch-elicited shortening reflex. We found tiguity and contingency be as important in the formation of that the reflex was enhanced following paired CS-US pre- associationsin other invertebrates? Will learning-dependent sentations but not following CS alone, US alone, or explicitly changesin behavior be the reflection of similar or dissimilar unpaired presentations of the stimuli.
    [Show full text]
  • The Forgotten Aquariums of Boston, Third Revised Edition by Jerry Ryan (1937 - )
    THE FORGOTTEN AQUARIUMS OF BOSTON THIRD Revised Edition By Jerry Ryan 2011 Jerry Ryan All rights reserved. Excerpt from “For The Union Dead” from FOR THE UNION DEAD by Robert Lowell. Copyright 1959 by Robert Lowell. Copyright renewed 1987 by Harriet Lowell, Caroline Lowell and Sheridan Lowell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. The Forgotten Aquariums of Boston, Third Revised Edition by Jerry Ryan (1937 - ). First Printing June, 2002. ISBN 0-9711999-0-6 (Softcover). 1.Public Aquaria. 2. Aquarium History. 3. Boston Aquarial Gardens. 4. Barnum’s Aquarial Gardens. 5. South Boston Aquarium. 6. P. T. Barnum. 7. James A. Cutting. 8. Henry D. Butler. 9. Aquariums. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface To The Third Revised Edition by Jeff Ives Page 6 Preface To The Second Edition By Jerry Ryan Page 7 Acknowledgements Page 9 The Boston Aquarial Gardens: Bromfield Street Page 10 Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens: Central Court Page 28 Barnum Aquarial Gardens Page 45 The South Boston Aquarium Page 62 Epilogue Page 73 Appendices Page 75 Illustration Credits Page 100 References and Suggested Reading Page 101 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION Boston is known as a city filled with history, but it’s not always the history you’d expect. Today millions of tourists walk the freedom trail with Paul Revere’s famous ride galloping through their heads. Little do they know that 85 years after the fateful lamp was lit in Old North Church, an entirely different kind of ride was taking place in the heart of Boston’s Downtown Crossing. This ride was performed by a woman seated in a nautilus-shaped boat being pulled by a beluga whale through the largest tank in the first aquarium in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Biology and Impacts of Leech Infestation in Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) in Back Bay, Virginia
    Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations Biological Sciences Fall 2017 Biology and Impacts of Leech Infestation in Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) in Back Bay, Virginia Amanda Nicole Pomposini Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_etds Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Pomposini, Amanda N.. "Biology and Impacts of Leech Infestation in Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) in Back Bay, Virginia" (2017). Master of Science (MS), Thesis, Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/1tcx-bx69 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_etds/22 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Biological Sciences at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BIOLOGY AND IMPACTS OF LEECH INFESTATION IN LARGEMOUTH BASS (MICROPTERUS SALMOIDES) IN BACK BAY, VIRGINIA by Amanda Nicole Pomposini B.S. December 2013, Old Dominion University A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE BIOLOGY OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December 2017 Approved by: David T. Gauthier (Director) Holly Gaff (Member) Ashley Haines (Member) ABSTRACT BIOLOGY AND IMPACTS OF LEECH INFESTATION IN LARGEMOUTH BASS (MICROPTERUS SALMOIDES) IN BACK BAY, VIRGINIA Amanda Nicole Pomposini Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. David T. Gauthier Back Bay is an oligohaline coastal bay in Southeast Virginia, USA. The Oregon Inlet along the Outer Banks of North Carolina is the only significant salinity source to the Bay via the Pamlico and Currituck Sounds of North Carolina.
    [Show full text]
  • Leech Biology for Bushwalkers
    Leech Biology for Bushwalkers Anne Parson National Parks lind Wildlife 43 Bridge Strccl HursNilie AARGH! A LEECH! sense vibrations through the water and will move to their Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article-pdf/26/3-4/142/1473348/az_1990_006.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 source Lo feed. I woke up wheezing for breath, hardly able to see through my swollen eyelids and unable to feel one side Once on an animal, leeches retreat from light, for of my face. OK, it was a hard days work; wet, co/d, fots example into socks, boot tops and collars. They feed for of mud, but this was a bit much. I just couJdn't figure it up to two hours consuming between two and ten times out . .. until f felt the blood funning down my neck. A their own weight (usually about 5 ml of blood) before leech bite! I had just discovered that I am allergic to they release their grip. One meal may last the leech for leeches! OK, so now what? find my antihistamine tablets, months. The blood is digested in the leech's stomach by use my inhaler and after a couple of hours start to feel a bacterium, which prevents the growth of other vaguely human again. Next step was a visit to my library organisms that may cause the blood to putrefy. in order to satisfy my curiosity about leeches. Here's what Bites rrom leeches are usually painless as the result of I learnt .. an anaesthetic secreted in the wliva (which may account for my numb face).
    [Show full text]
  • Ingestive Behaviour and Physiology of the Medicinal Leech
    J. exp. Biol. 137, 513-527 (1988) 513 Printed in Great Britain © The Company of Biologists Limited 1988 INGESTIVE BEHAVIOUR AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE MEDICINAL LEECH BY CHARLES M. LENT1, KARSTEN H. FLIEGNER*, EDWARD FREEDMANt AND MICHAEL H. DICKINSON* ^Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan UT 84322 and Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence RI 02912, USA Accepted 16 February 1988 Summary Ingestion lasts 25 min in Hirudo medicinalis and is characterized by pharyngeal peristalsis which fills the crop. This peristalsis has an initial rate of 2-4 Hz which decays smoothly to 1-2 Hz at termination of ingestion. During ingestion, the leech body wall undergoes peristalsis which appears to aid in filling the crop diverticula. Body peristalsis begins at a rate of 10 min"1 and decreases linearly to 2min~' at termination. The body also undergoes dorsoventral flexions when blood flow is occluded. Blood meal size increases slightly with leech size: 8-4 g for 1-g leeches and 9-7 g for 2-g leeches. However, relative meal size decreases markedly with increasing animal size; from 8-15 times body mass for 1-g to 4-80 times for 2-g leeches. When intact leeches were exposed to micromolar concentrations of serotonin, there was an increase in the rate of pharyngeal peristalsis and the size of the blood meals. Leeches excrete the plasma from their ingested blood meals. Excretion is activated during ingestion, which increases feeding efficiency by increasing the proportion of blood cells in the ingestate. Excretion continues for 4-6 days following ingestion, removing all the remaining plasma from the ingestate.
    [Show full text]
  • Detection of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) from the Leech Myzobdella Lugubris Leidy, 1851 Mohamed Faisal*1,2 and Carolyn a Schulz1
    Parasites & Vectors BioMed Central Short report Open Access Detection of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSV) from the leech Myzobdella lugubris Leidy, 1851 Mohamed Faisal*1,2 and Carolyn A Schulz1 Address: 1Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, S-112 Plant Biology Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA and 2Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, Michigan State University, 4125 Beaumont Road, Lansing, MI, 48910, USA Email: Mohamed Faisal* - [email protected]; Carolyn A Schulz - [email protected] * Corresponding author Published: 28 September 2009 Received: 4 September 2009 Accepted: 28 September 2009 Parasites & Vectors 2009, 2:45 doi:10.1186/1756-3305-2-45 This article is available from: http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/2/1/45 © 2009 Faisal and Schulz; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract The leech Myzobdella lugubris is widespread in the Lake Erie Watershed, especially Lake St. Clair. However, its role in pathogen transmission is not fully understood. In this same watershed, several widespread fish mortalities associated with the Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSV) were recorded. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is an emerging disease in the Great Lakes Basin that is deadly to the fish population, yet little is known about its mode of transmission. To assess the potential role of M. lugubris in VHSV transmission, leeches were collected from Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie and pooled into samples of five.
    [Show full text]
  • From Mammal Detection Events to Standardized Surveys
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/449165; this version posted October 22, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Shifting up a gear with iDNA: from mammal detection events to standardized surveys 1 1 1 1 1 Jesse F. Abrams *​ , Lisa Hörig ,​ Robert Brozovic ,​ Jan Axtner ,​ Alex Crampton-Platt ,​ Azlan ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1 1 2 3,4 1 Mohamed ,​ Seth T. Wong ,​ Rahel Sollmann ,​ Douglas W. Yu ,​ and Andreas Wilting ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ *corresponding author ([email protected]) 1 Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315, Berlin, Germany 2 Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California Davis, Davis, 95616 CA, USA 3 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang East Road, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China 4 School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk NR47TJ, UK Running headline: Shifting gears in iDNA studies ​ bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/449165; this version posted October 22, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Abstract 1. Invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA), in combination with high throughput sequencing, has been proposed as a cost-efficient and powerful tool to survey vertebrate species. Previous studies, however, have only provided evidence that vertebrates can be detected using iDNA, but have not taken the next step of placing these detection events within a statistical framework that allows for robust biodiversity assessments.
    [Show full text]