Micro-moth discoveries in southern Australia: a new understanding of evolution, biology and distribution of primitive Lepidoptera

Speaker : Dr Andy Young – Kangaroo Island

Venue    : Thu 4 Aug 2016, 4pm (Murdoch University, ECL2.031)

During the period 2010-2015, we have made three notable discoveries while researching the micro-moth fauna of southern Australia.

The first was the discovery of the new Monotrysian moth Family, the Aenigmatidae. The second the discovery of a large obligate-mutualism association between a group of moths within the Heliozelidae of the south-west of Western Australia and plants within the genus Boronia (Rutaceae). Finally, several species of Microptergidae (Lepidoptera, Zeugloptera) were discovered, for the first time, in the the south-west of Western Australia.

Possibly the most significant finding, was the discovery of the previously unknown Monotrysian Family, the Aenigmatinidae, in the form of the new species Aenigmatinea glatzii. It was discovered on Kangaroo Island, off the southern coast of South Australia.

Initially the placement of this Family was uncertain, due to a combination of ‘primitive’ and ‘advanced’ morphology. Molecular tools were used to elucidate the position of the Family, in combination with detailed morphological analysis.

Our work with Aenigmatinea has demonstrated that transcriptome sequencing is a efficient method for generating many gene sequences, enabling us to resolve older splits, including up to Superfamily level. In the Aenigmatinea study, we used a combination of PCR to amplify two conserved genes and transcriptome sequencing to obtain a further 14 nuclear genes. The combined data set (19512 bp in total) allowed us to place the new family Anigmatineae amongst the Glossata (or ‘tongue moths’), as a sister group to the Neopseustidae, and forming a clade which is sister to all Heteroneura, the vast majority of known Lepidoptera.

The second discovery was that of the complex association within the Australian Heliozelidae (Lepidoptera; Adeloidea), of a new genera closely allied to the described genus Pseliastis, involved in an obligate pollination/early-biology mutualism with the pinnate-leaved members of the section Boronia species (Rutaceae).

A sister family of the Heliozelidae, the Prodoxidae, are the only other members of the order Lepidoptera currently described as having such an association with a similar grouping of plants.

We have discovered that pollination is enacted by the use of a specialised organ on the abdomen of the female moth during oviposition.

As with the prodoxids, it appears that a second genus of related opportunist moths has arisen from the pollinators and lays their eggs into the already fertilised flowers. Our discovery of these associations is ongoing, with around 50 new species to science, known and in the process of being described as a result of our ongoing work.

We have been constructing both higher level and genus group specific phylogenies of the Australian Heliozelidae.

Initially we produced a preliminary phylogeny of Heliozelidae using two mitochondrial (COI and COII) and two nuclear genes (28S and H3). We sequenced a number of specimens from most Heliozelidae genera, including several genera recently discovered in Australia but not yet described. This phylogeny resulted in a number of strongly supported clades, with clear separation between most Australian and Northern Hemisphere groups. However, this phylogeny did not resolve the older, higher level relationships between the clades. To address these issues, we have collected fresh specimens from almost every Heliozelidae genera from which we will generate full transcriptomes. Our aim is to use transcriptome data to produce a well-resolved phylogeny of the Heliozelidae.

Finally, the discovery of a species of Sabatinca (New Zealand group) by Professor Doug Hilton has led to the discovery of a further three species of Western Australian Micropterigidae bu our group. These later three species appear to be in a separate genus apparently unique to WA and possibly related to the eastern Australian genus Tasmantrix. They are the subject of further research by Dr. George Gibbs of the Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, and will be published in the near future.

Simulation of diffusive front in ordered porous material and its link with butterflies’ color

Speaker : Ms Manon Marchand – University Paris Sud 11

Venue    : Wed 6 July 2016, 4pm (Murdoch Univ, Senate Conference Room **)

“Les papillons ne sont que des fleurs envolées un jour de fête où la Nature était en veine d’invention” (George Sand, *)

Looking like a flower is a good way of avoiding predators. Red-like colors (long wavelength ones) are often produced by pigments on butterflies wings. But a good way of avoiding predators is also to mimic leaves or sky. Green and blue pigments are extremely rare in nature. Most of green and blue butterflies produces color by interference, diffraction, absorption and reflection of light on structures present on their wings [1].

Butterflies wings present 0.1 mm-long scales [2]. This is where their latin and scientific name, Lepidoptera, comes from. Lepidos- means scales (as in leprosy) and -ptera stands for wings (as in pterodactyl). The structure that interact with light is present on those scales.

We will not discuss here the production of colors on butterflies’ wings but the mechanism forming interesting structures inside the scales by modelling it as a diffusion process in a two-dimensional grid.

[1] How nature produces blue color, Berthier S. and Simonis P.

[2] Light and color on the wing : structural colors in butterflies and moths, H. Giradella

 

* Butterflies are flying flowers invented a day Nature had no idea what to do

** Apologies for the date change. Originally this was advertised for Thursday 7 July

Force of Nature: mimicking mechanoscape to control stem cell fate

Speaker : Dr Yu Suk Choi – University of Western Australia

Venue    : Fri 10 June 2016, 12 noon (Murdoch University, McCusker Conference Center)

 

Stem cells rely on, and are finely tuned to respond to, their immediate microenvironment, which can be exceedingly complex. Biomaterials must present cells with finely tuned mechanical cues to systematically examine their control over development or pathological insults. Chief among these mechanical cues is extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness which is perhaps intuitive; functional boundaries between tissues such neuromuscular junctions or phathological boundaries, e.g. the infarcted fibrous heart tissue juxtaposed with healthy myocardium, are prevalent in vivo and imply that mechanical cues not only help guide differentiation/regeneration but may regulate disease mechanisms. In tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, it has become essential to understand and consider the biomechanics in cell-ECM interaction to better design biomaterials and to regenerate cells and/or tissues. In this talk, I will introduce how stiffness affects stem cells via mechanotransduction and the state-of-the-art materials technologies (atomic force microscopy, traction force microscopy, and smart material fabrication) used to mimic stiffness of the microenvironment.

Dr. Choi is a lecturer in the School of Anatomy Physiology and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia. His research focus is on stem cell – extracellular matrix mechanical interaction using multi-disciplinary approaches based on previous training in various fields including PhD in stem cell/tissue engineering (University of Melbourne 2006-2010), Postdoc in Bioengineering (UCSD 2010-2013), and Research Fellow in Cardiology (University of Sydney, 2013-2015). Yu have 20 research publications in top Journals including Nature Materials and Advanced Functional Materials. He has attracted 8 research grants totaling over $1.3 million including NHMRC Project Grant (CIA) since 2012.

Neuro-Muscular Modelling of Gait Biomechanics

Speaker : Prof David Lloyd – Griffith University

Venue    : Thu 26 May 2016, 3pm (Murdoch University, Senate Room)

David is the Director of the Musculoskeletal Research Program at the Griffith Health Institute at the Gold Coast campus of Griffith University in Queensland. In lieu of an abstract, here’s some information about David’s expertise and research directions, copied from his web site:

Research expertise

• Neuromuscular Skeletal Computational Modelling
• Muscular skeletal injuries of the lower limb
• Osteoarthritis of the lower limb joints
• Tissue engineering treatment of tendinopathy and cartilage
• Training to prevent muscular skeletal injuries and disease

 

 

Modelling hydrogen clearance from a rat retina

Speaker : Dr Duncan Farrow – Murdoch University

Venue    : Thu 16 Jun 2016, 4pm (Murdoch University, ECL2.031)

 

Blood flow in biological tissue can be studied by measuring the clearance of an injected inert solution such as hydrogen saturated saline. Studying clearance in the eye is complicated by the vascular structure varying signicantly through the choroid and retina. The majority of the blood flow is in the choroid but hydrogen diffuses into the retina complicating the measured clearance response. This talk will present two models of hydrogen clearance. The results of these models will be compared with laboratory measurements of hydrogen clearance in a rat retina.

 

Image sources: Feature image extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macula_of_retina, where it is reproduced from Häggström, Mikael. “Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014“. Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. Graphics above reproduced from Science of DME

Dance to the Vibrations – Motion of Active Granular Rotors

Speaker: Dr Christian Scholz –  Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg

Venue   : Thu 8 Sept 2016 – 4pm (Murdoch University, venue tba)

The majority of animal life performs active motion, i.e. organisms store energy within internal degrees of freedom and later release it in terms of directed motion. While in biological organisms this topic itself has been studied extensively, from swimming bacteria to flocks of animals, interest grew also in physical systems of inanimate objects that perform active motion. Most noticeable artificial microswimmers, but also active granular walkers.

Many studies consider translational active motion, but it has been shown that also rotational active motion leads to interesting novel effects in many-particle systems. In simulations of actively rotating spinners, a counter-intuitive separation of particles into patches of equal sense of rotation has been observed.

We use a particle design established in to experimentally create a system of 3D-printed active rotors, driven by vertical vibrations. Our experiments confirm the numerical observation of a phase separated stationary state. The evolution of the patterns from the mixed initial state can be quantified from the size of the clusters from the Voronoi triangulation or the length of the interface between patches, by counting Delaunay bonds between particles of opposite sense of rotation. The particle motion can be mapped onto a Langevin equation, which allows a direct comparison between experiment and simulation.

Centimetre- to nanometre-scale exploration of biomineral structure

Speaker: Dr Jeremy Shaw –  CMCA@Physics, University of Western Australia

Venue   : Thu 28 April 2016 – 4pm (Murdoch University, Senate Conference Room)

The iron biomineralised teeth of marine chitons are organic/inorganic composite structures that are built using hierarchically ordered components that span multiple length scales. Understanding the mechanisms governing the highly controlled bio-fabrication of these natural structures is necessary for inspiring the design of novel advanced materials. This study utilises a range of imaging techniques to journey from the level of the whole organism down to the nanoscale structural components that underpin the material properties of these remarkable structures.

Whole tooth anatomy was explored using a combination of optical microscopy and X-ray micro-computed tomography, which provide a means to digitally examine structure/function relationships at the centimetre- to micrometre-scale. The composite organic and mineral sub-structure of the teeth was observed using a combination of SEM-based serial sectioning (3-view and focused ion beam milling) and electron tomography, which reveal micrometre- to nanometre-scale detail of hierarchical components.

The teeth are shown to be comprised of a network of organic fibres that are arranged in a comparable orientation to the final mineralised product. These fibres are also shown to persist throughout the mineralisation process, but may be displaced or fragmented by the growing mineral phase. Fibres are also shown to pass through multiple mineral phases, which may impart structural and functional properties superior to the mineral in isolation. The fibre network and mineral architecture of the tooth as a whole are arranged in a manner that matches the feeding mechanics proposed for this species of chiton.

The multi-scale data generated by these various imaging modalities has revealed insights into the growth and design of these hierarchically structured biominerals. The provision of a final blueprint of the entire fibre network that underlies chiton tooth structure will facilitate the interpretation of fibre/mineral structure across a range of lengths scales in future studies.

Sex, Sperm and Society : Bee Amazed

Speaker: Prof Boris Baer – Center for Integrated Bee Research @ University of Western Australia

Venue: Thu 21 April 2016 – 3pm (Murdoch University, ECL1.031 which is below ECL2.031)

Boris Baer is the head of CIBER, the Center for integrative Bee Research at the University of Western Australia. In this talk, he will provide information about several aspects of bee sperm production and structure, including the occurrence of a curious nanostructure.

 

Tissue mechanics on the meso-scale: Probing mechanical contrast with optics

Speaker : Prof David D Sampson – University of Western Australia

Venue    : Thu 19 May 2016 @ 4pm (Murdoch University, ECL2.031)

The mechanics of cells and tissues is important in a variety of ways that drives major topics of research in cell biology, biophysics and medicine. Arguably, research on the cellular and sub-cellular scale and, at the other extreme, on the whole organ scale of medical imaging, is being well served by existing imaging methods. The gap in the spatial resolution spectrum between these two extremes presents an opportunity to be filled by optics, in probing length scales from the few micrometers to perhaps 10-100 times that. Such scales are relevant to probing a cell and convey the potential to study cell mechanics in situ in real tissues. They also convey the potential to resolve heterogeneous tissue structures, such as cancer, which could aid in the more effective surgical removal of tumors. Mechanical properties are important to measure in their own right, but additionally they also represent an alternative form of contrast to that of optical properties, which provides new opportunity in imaging tissues. Probing mechanics with optics is not new, but various aspects have converged recently to make possible high-contrast, high-resolution imaging of tissue mechanics. This plenary will try to tease out this story, demonstrate progress, and highlight where the field might go in the future.

Professor David D. Sampson is at the Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering and at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation & Analysis of the  University of Western Australia.

BIOGRAPHY:

Professor David Sampson heads the Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory and is Director of the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation & Analysis at The University of Western Australia. He directs the Western Australian nodes of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility and the National Imaging Facility (Australia). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the OSA – The Optical Society and SPIE – The International Society for Optics and Photonics. Prof. Sampson’s research interests are in the science and applications of light in medicine and biology. His research is focused on the translation of microscopy techniques to imaging in the living body – medical microscopy. He was awarded the IEEE Photonics Society’s Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2013 for the Microscope-in-a-Needle, a deep tissue imaging platform. His other interests are in optical elastography, the microscale imaging of tissue stiffness, and parametric imaging of other tissue properties, such as optical attenuation, birefringence, and speckle dynamics to detect microvasculature, with a view to creating a suite of tools to comprehensively characterise the tissue microenvironment.

 

Surface Area of a Football Field in a Single Gram

Speaker : Dr Piotr Kowalczyk – Murdoch University

Venue    : Thu 2 June 2016 @ 4pm (Murdoch University, ECL1.031 – 1 floor below ECL2.031)

Disordered microporous carbonaceous materials are – mostly as activated carbons – used for a wide range of technical applications such as filters for gases, i.e. as molecular sieves for air purification, catalysts supports, adsorption heat pumps or electrodes in double layer capacitors. In different applications their open microporosity (pore size less than 2.0 nm) and huge specific surface area of micropores (up to about 1000 m²/g) are important characteristics.

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