Das Institut für Evolution und Biodiversität sucht für den praktischen Teil des Kurses ‘Evolution und Biodiversität der Tiere‘ Studentische Hilfskräfte (Vergütung 9h/Woche für 3 Monate). Hauptaufgabe ist die aktive Betreuung der Studierenden, was z.B. das Präparieren von Tieren (Schweinespulwurm, Schabe, Forelle etc.) beinhaltet. Als Qualifikation setzen wir die erfolgreiche Teilnahme am Kurs ‘Evolution und Biodiversität der Tiere‘ (oder vergleichbarer Kurs) und gute kommunikative Fähigkeiten voraus. Der Kurs wird vom 11.01. bis zum 12.02.2021 von 08:00 bis 12:00 Uhr stattfinden (aufgrund der Corona-Pandemie voraussichtlich für Studierende online).
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Thesis title: The stinkier, the fitter? The influences of stink gland secretions of red flour beetle, Tribolium castanuem on the host and niche microbiome
Red flour beetles with stink glands producing antimicrobial, benzoquinone-containing secretions, can control the growth of microorganisms in their niches. Such niches with external checmial secretions can be passed on and affect the fitness of themselves and their offspring. Using RNA interference to knockdown the quinone production related genes in the beetles and sequencing, we can then use the wild type and quinonless beetles to create differentially conditioned flour and study how the stink gland secretions affect the microbiome composition in the host and their niches and eventually the fitness of the beetles.
This project is for anyone who has interests in evolutionary/behavioural ecology, molecular biology, chemcial ecology or microbiology.
Methods you will use: insect husbandry, RNAi gene knockdown, phenotypic screening, microbiological and molecular techniqes and bioimformatic analysis
What we offer: supportive and international environment, lab/bioinformatic/R training
We are always interesting in finding highly motivated master students, if you are interested in any projects or related topics please email Lai Ka, Lo (lo@uni-muenster.de).
Tze Hann Ng (Irene) studies how copepods react to parasites.
For more than a year now, at the University of Münster, she has been studying the mechanisms of the immune system of these tiny animals. Even before she came to Germany on a fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation, she was interested in aquatic creatures while working in her previous lab in Taiwan – although there she examined the larger “siblings”, shrimps and crayfish.
Original article in the University newspaper wissen|leben (in German)
New study by AG Kurtz members Robert Peuß and Jörn Scharsack featured on WWU cover page
Cavefish have fewer cells of the innate immune system
Cavefish are small, live in tucked away places humans rarely go, and they’re common enough that you can find them on every continent except Antarctica. But they also have another characteristic that seems surprising at first glance: They can tell researchers something about the occurrence of autoimmune diseases in humans. Because similar to people, cavefish live in an environment with a reduced number of parasites. Unlike people, however, cavefish have had much more time – about 150,000 years – to adapt to these conditions. To learn more about how a low-parasite environment may shape the evolution of a host’s immune system, an international team of researchers led by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research examined the impact of decreased parasite abundance and infection on the evolution of the cavefish immune system.
The scientists under participation of Dr. Robert Peuß and Dr. Jörn P. Scharsack from the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity characterized the cavefish immune system and how it responds to threats, compared to that of closely-related river fish from a parasite-rich environment. Their findings show that cavefish differ in their sensitivity toward immune stimulants and have a different composition of immune cells, including a reduction of cells of the innate immune system that play a role in inflammation.
In future studies, the scientists hope to identify genetic factors involved in cavefish immune system evolution. This research could provide clues about the development of immune system disorders and potentially human autoimmune diseases, where the immune system attacks its own body. The study has been published in the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution”.
