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Entomology

University of Kentucky

Series

2018

Time Factors

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Molecular Gut Content Analysis Of Different Spider Body Parts, Nuria Macías-Hernández, Kacie J. Athey, Vanina Tonzo, Owen S. Wangensteen, Miquel Arnedo, James D Harwood May 2018

Molecular Gut Content Analysis Of Different Spider Body Parts, Nuria Macías-Hernández, Kacie J. Athey, Vanina Tonzo, Owen S. Wangensteen, Miquel Arnedo, James D Harwood

Entomology Faculty Publications

Molecular gut-content analysis has revolutionized the study of food webs and feeding interactions, allowing the detection of prey DNA within the gut of many organisms. However, successful prey detection is a challenging procedure in which many factors affect every step, starting from the DNA extraction process. Spiders are liquid feeders with branched gut diverticula extending into their legs and throughout the prosoma, thus digestion takes places in different parts of the body and simple gut dissection is not possible. In this study, we investigated differences in prey detectability in DNA extracts from different parts of the spider´s body: legs, prosoma …


Advancing Behavioural Genomics By Considering Timescale, Clare C. Rittschof, Kimberly A. Hughes Feb 2018

Advancing Behavioural Genomics By Considering Timescale, Clare C. Rittschof, Kimberly A. Hughes

Entomology Faculty Publications

Animal behavioural traits often covary with gene expression, pointing towards a genomic constraint on organismal responses to environmental cues. This pattern highlights a gap in our understanding of the time course of environmentally responsive gene expression, and moreover, how these dynamics are regulated. Advances in behavioural genomics explore how gene expression dynamics are correlated with behavioural traits that range from stable to highly labile. We consider the idea that certain genomic regulatory mechanisms may predict the timescale of an environmental effect on behaviour. This temporally minded approach could inform both organismal and evolutionary questions ranging from the remediation of early …