Test Morphogenesis in Giant Antarctic Foraminifera

一些类型的有孔虫原生动物产生由矿物颗粒组成的外壳，这些矿物颗粒被一种耐化学物质的生物粘合剂紧紧地捆绑在一起。在贝壳发育过程中，这些单细胞动物从沉积物中收集矿物质颗粒，并在适当的数量和位置分泌水泥，以塑造建筑优雅的结构。南极采集点的某些巨型物种非常丰富，这使得那里的有孔虫群落特别适合于研究这种贝壳结构的具体方面，并解决与该群体进化有关的问题。对这些结构发展的研究将集中在一种巨大的单细胞物种上，这种物种允许研究适应寒冷的海洋生物中的水泥分泌，而不会出现多细胞动物常见的细胞与细胞和细胞与组织相互作用的并发症。使用延时视频显微镜、光学和电子显微镜细胞化学和凝胶电泳的研究将在细胞和生化分析水平上提供关于这种测试结构的信息。材料测试结合结构模型将表征水泥的机械性能。从实用的角度来看，这种环境安全的水泥结合了免疫球蛋白，并具有可能应用于生物技术或生物医学应用的有用的材料特性。最后，对选定物种的分子遗传分析将为确定这一重要原生动物群体的进化提供一个亟需的框架。这一高度跨学科的项目是由于生物技术的新进展而成为可能的，并对各种领域具有基础和应用意义，包括医学、分子药理学、原生动物发育和进化、古生物学、工程学和海洋产品化学。

Some types of foraminiferan protozoa produce shells composed of mineral grains tightly bound by a chemically-resistant, biological cement. During shell development, these single celled animals collect mineral grains from the sediment and secrete cement in the proper amount and location to sculpt architecturally elegant structures. The high abundance of certain giant species at an antarctic collection site makes the foraminiferan community there uniquely suited for studying specific aspects of such shell construction, and for addressing related questions concerning the evolution of the group. Studies on the development of these structures will focus on a giant one-celled species that allows the study of the secretion of cement in a cold-adapted marine organism without the complications of cell to cell and cell to tissue interactions common to multicellular animals. Studies using time-lapse videomicroscopy, light- and electron-microscopic cell chemistry and gel electrophoresis will provide information on this kind of test construction at the cellular and biochemical levels of analysis. Materials testing combined with structural modelling will characterize the mechanical properties of the cement. From a practical standpoint, this environmentally-safe cement binds immunoglobulins and has useful material properties that may have applied biotechnological or biomedical applications. Finally, molecular genetic analyses of selected species, will provide a much-needed framework for determining the evolution of this important protozoan group. This highly interdisciplinary project is made possible by new advances in biotechnology, and has both basic and applied implications for a variety of fields, including medicine, molecular pharmacology, protozoan development and evolution, paleontology, engineering, and marine products chemistry to name a few.