Two faculty members in The University of Tulsa’s Department of Biological Science recently published research findings in the prestigious journal Current Biology. Assistant Professor Alexandra Kingston was the lead author on a paper examining the protection snapping shrimp are afforded by a helmet-like extension of their exoskeleton. For his part, Assistant Professor Matthew Toomey was the lead author on a study that revealed a hitherto unknown mechanism that produces the color red in birds and fish.
Shockwaves and biological armor
Snapping shrimp produce shock waves by rapidly closing their claws. These highly territorial creatures snap their claws when they are warding off rivals and when they seek to stun or kill other crustaceans and fish.
For Alexandra Kingston and fellow researchers at the University of South Carolina, the question they sought to answer was how snapping shrimp survive frequent, close-range encounters with shock waves? Do they have any physical mechanisms to protect themselves against neurotrauma brought about by their own actions and those of other shrimp? Their investigation pivoted on these creatures’ orbital hoods — helmet-like extensions of the exoskeleton that cover the eyes and brains of many species of snapping shrimp but are absent in other crustaceans.
As reported in Current Biology, the team began with behavioral trials that showed shock wave exposure slowed shelter-seeking and caused a loss of motor control in shrimps from which removed orbital hoods had been removed. The behavior of shrimp whose orbital hoods had not been altered, however, was not significantly affected.
Pressure recordings led Kingston and her colleagues to discover that orbital hoods of Alpheus heterochaelis dampen shock waves. “This protection,” she noted, “most likely comes about when orbital hoods trap and expel water so that kinetic energy is redirected and released away from shrimps’ heads.”
While the discovery about how shrimp protect themselves against brain injuries is fascinating in itself, Kingston points out that these findings have a potential application for humans, such as soldiers, who are at risk of blast-induced neurotrauma. “There is not yet a helmet for humans that effectively prevents the transfer of energy from shock waves to neural tissues,” Kingston remarked. “But our research strongly suggests potential applicability to future efforts at designing armor systems that protect humans from shock waves.”
Red in feather and scale
It is an unusual Tulsa garden that is not graced for much of the year by the vivid red of male cardinals. Yet, precisely how and why cardinals produce these beautiful hues has not been well understood.
The red plumage of the cardinal and many of the reds, oranges and yellows that adorn birds and fish are produced through the accumulation and modification of carotenoid pigments from the foods they eat. Animals consume yellow carotenoids (e.g., lutein and zeaxanthin) and somehow turn them into red ketocarotenoids. “Although biologists have long known that carotenoid coloration plays a key role in social interactions, including mate choice, the mechanism animals use to convert yellow carotenoids to red were largely unknown,” Matthew Toomey remarked.
Along with colleagues in Portugal, France and the United States, Toomey spent the past decade identifying the enzymes that catalyze the chemical conversion of yellow into red coloration that are critical for coloration and vision: “In our Current Biology paper, we describe for the first time a two-step enzymatic mechanism that mediates the production of ketocarotenoids in birds and fish.”
Toomey and his co-researchers note that discovery of this enzymatic pathway for ketocarotenoid biosysnthesis has major implications for understanding the evolution of color diversity in vertebrates – specifically, the potential connections between coloration and basic metabolic pathways. “We anticipate that our work will provide a basis for interpreting the results of genetic mapping studies aimed at identifying loci that regulate color patterning,” Toomey commented. “More generally, our findings open new avenues for understanding the mechanisms underlying the evolution of visual ornaments, color vision and animal diversity.”
The natural world is endlessly fascinating and its mysteries are far from solved. Why not embark on a lifetime of discovery with TU’s Department of Biological Science?