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Full-Text Articles in Physiology
Functional Regionalization In The Fly Eye As An Adaptation To Habitat Structure, Carlos A. Ruiz
Functional Regionalization In The Fly Eye As An Adaptation To Habitat Structure, Carlos A. Ruiz
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
With over 150,000 described species, flies constitute one of the most species-rich groups of animals on earth, and have managed to colonize almost every corner of it. Part of their success comes from their amazing flying skills, which are strongly tied to their visual capabilities. To navigate fast and accurately through their habitats, they must be able to process the inordinate amounts of visual information necessary to sort obstacles, avoid predators and remain on course. Surprisingly, despite their tiny brains, flies have no problem in processing all that information to generate correcting maneuvers in just about 30 ms. To this …
Evolutionary Expansions And Neofunctionalization Of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors In Cnidaria, Ellen G. Dow
Evolutionary Expansions And Neofunctionalization Of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors In Cnidaria, Ellen G. Dow
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Reef ecosystems are composed of a variety of organisms, transient species of fish and invertebrates, microscopic bacteria and viruses, and structural organisms that build the living foundation, coral. Sessile cnidarians, corals and anemones, interpret dynamic environments of organisms and abiotic factors through a molecular interface. Recognition of foreign molecules occurs through innate immunity via receptors identifying conserved molecular patterns. Similarly, chemosensory receptors monitor the environment through specific ligands. Chemosensory receptors include ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), transmembrane ion channels involved in chemical sensing and neural signal transduction. Recently, an iGluR homolog was implicated in cnidarian immunological resistance to recurrent infections of …