[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

"International court’s attack on Israel a sign of the free world’s moral collapse"

"Pete Hegseth Is Right for the DOD"

"Why Our Constitution Secures Liberty, Not Democracy"

Woodworking and Construction Hacks

"CNN: Reporters Were Crying and Hugging in the Hallways After Learning of Matt Gaetz's AG Nomination"

"NEW: Democrat Officials Move to Steal the Senate Race in Pennsylvania, Admit to Breaking the Law"

"Pete Hegseth Is a Disruptive Choice for Secretary of Defense. That’s a Good Thing"

Katie Britt will vote with the McConnell machine

Battle for Senate leader heats up — Hit pieces coming from Thune and Cornyn.

After Trump’s Victory, There Can Be No Unity Without A Reckoning

Vivek Ramaswamy, Dark-horse Secretary of State Candidate

Megyn Kelly has a message for Democrats. Wait for the ending.

Trump to choose Tom Homan as his “Border Czar”

"Trump Shows Demography Isn’t Destiny"

"Democrats Get a Wake-Up Call about How Unpopular Their Agenda Really Is"

Live Election Map with ticker shows every winner.

Megyn Kelly Joins Trump at His Final PA Rally of 2024 and Explains Why She's Supporting Him

South Carolina Lawmaker at Trump Rally Highlights Story of 3-Year-Old Maddie Hines, Killed by Illegal Alien

GOP Demands Biden, Harris Launch Probe into Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Accused of Killing Grayson Davis

Previously-Deported Illegal Charged With Killing Arkansas Children’s Hospital Nurse in Horror DUI Crash

New Data on Migrant Crime Rates Raises Eyebrows, Alarms

Thousands of 'potentially fraudulent voter registration applications' Uncovered, Stopped in Pennsylvania

Michigan Will Count Ballot of Chinese National Charged with Voting Illegally

"It Did Occur" - Kentucky County Clerk Confirms Voting Booth 'Glitch'' Shifted Trump Votes To Kamala

Legendary Astronaut Buzz Aldrin 'wholeheartedly' Endorses Donald Trump

Liberal Icon Naomi Wolf Endorses Trump: 'He's Being More Inclusive'

(Washed Up Has Been) Singer Joni Mitchell Screams 'F*** Trump' at Hollywood Bowl

"Analysis: The Final State of the Presidential Race"

He’ll, You Pieces of Garbage

The Future of Warfare -- No more martyrdom!

"Kamala’s Inane Talking Points"

"The Harris Campaign Is Testament to the Toxicity of Woke Politics"

Easy Drywall Patch

Israel Preparing NEW Iran Strike? Iran Vows “Unimaginable” Response | Watchman Newscast

In Logansport, Indiana, Kids are Being Pushed Out of Schools After Migrants Swelled County’s Population by 30%: "Everybody else is falling behind"

Exclusive — Bernie Moreno: We Spend $110,000 Per Illegal Migrant Per Year, More than Twice What ‘the Average American Makes’

Florida County: 41 of 45 People Arrested for Looting after Hurricanes Helene and Milton are Noncitizens

Presidential race: Is a Split Ticket the only Answer?

hurricanes and heat waves are Worse

'Backbone of Iran's missile industry' destroyed by IAF strikes on Islamic Republic

Joe Rogan Experience #2219 - Donald Trump

IDF raids Hezbollah Radwan Forces underground bases, discovers massive cache of weapons

Gallant: ‘After we strike in Iran,’ the world will understand all of our training

The Atlantic Hit Piece On Trump Is A Psy-Op To Justify Post-Election Violence If Harris Loses

Six Al Jazeera journalists are Hamas, PIJ terrorists

Judge Aileen Cannon, who tossed Trump's classified docs case, on list of proposed candidates for attorney general

Iran's Assassination Program in Europe: Europe Goes Back to Sleep

Susan Olsen says Brady Bunch revival was cancelled because she’s MAGA.

Foreign Invaders crisis cost $150B in 2023, forcing some areas to cut police and fire services: report

Israel kills head of Hezbollah Intelligence.


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Science-Technology
See other Science-Technology Articles

Title: Scientists Turn Snails Into Slug-Like Creatures
Source: sciencedaily.com
URL Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101011090229.htm
Published: Oct 12, 2010
Author: staff
Post Date: 2010-10-12 14:27:06 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 3062
Comments: 2


Marisa transformed. (Credit: Heinz Köhler and Irene Gust, Universität Tübingen)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2010) — Biologists have re-shaped the body design of snails. Exposure to platinum results in the formation of an internal shell instead of the normal external shell. During embryogenesis of the freshwater snail, Marisa cornuarietis, a time slot of just one or two days determines whether the animals form an outer shell or not. Reprogramming of the direction of growth of the molluscs´ shell-generating tissue during this sensitive phase prevents the development of the usual convoluted shell. In lieu thereof a small hollow cone grows inside the body -- similar to whats happens in squids.

This new program has implications also for other organs: the gill is not located in a mantle cavity over the head, as usual, but rather no mantle cavity is formed at all and the gill remains at the posterior end of the visceral sac and floats freely in the water. These results which recently have been published in Evolution & Development by the group of Prof. Heinz Köhler and Prof. Rita Triebskorn from the Institute for Evolution and Ecology of Tübingen University, Germany, support the theory of 'macromutation'-based radical developmental shifts caused by modifications of signal transduction pathways which may have led to sudden body plan alterations during evolution.

Initially, the phenomenon of snail-slug conversion was discovered by Raphaela Osterauer, PhD candidate supervised by Heinz Köhler, while studying the toxicity of metal ions. Some years ago, the group had established a comparatively sensitive embryo toxicity test on the basis of developing Marisa eggs. When testing the noble metal platinum, which is released into the environment by abrasion from automobile catalytic converters, she found the embryos lacking a shell when being exposed to high concentrations of bivalent platinum ions. Further experiments revealed crucial relevance of exactly that small time slot in which the direction of growth of the shell gland´s tissue is defined. During one or two days only, this tissue is either programmed to evaginate and to form a shell-secreting mantle covering the dorsal part of the snail´s body or, alternatively in the presence of platinum, to invaginate into the gastropod´s body.

It is thus possible to spatially re-direct the shell-forming tissue with all irreversible consequences for the formation of the mantle and the shell and the position of the gill simply by a temporary exposure to platinum ions. After removal of platinum, the artificial slug embryos proceed with their development according to the new developmental program, hatch from their eggs, feed as usual, and do not change their new body plan anymore. They reach an age of more than half a year. During his time, an internal calcareous shell in the shape of a slightly bend, hollow cone grows inside of the body of these animals which remains after their death. Since also extant slugs, sea-slugs, and cephalopods bear small internal shells, the artificial Marisa slugs may serve as a model organisms to investigate the evolution of shell internalization. In recent studies, the Köhler and Triebskorn group was able to raise artificial slugs also in two only distantly related lung snail species.

The molluscs are not genetically modified by platinum -- they are no mutants. However, the scientists expect gene activity regulation to be modified. Similar, mutation-based modifications of gene regulation may have contributed to the evolution of different mollusc body plans and, consequently, the Tübingen research group now plans to concentrate on the analysis of platinum-sensitive gene activity during the early embryogenesis of gastropods.

The biologists assume that the artificial slugs do not occur in the field, since platinum pollution in the environment does not yet reach the concentrations necessary for snail-slug conversion. (1 image)

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.

#1. To: Ferret Mike (#0)

Cloverfield....lol

Badeye  posted on  2010-10-12   14:30:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Badeye (#1)

Franken-Snail?

Capitalist Eric  posted on  2010-10-12   21:07:21 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 2.

        There are no replies to Comment # 2.


End Trace Mode for Comment # 2.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com