Lipid Peroxidation in Daphnia magna Ovaries by Development Stage
Faculty Mentor
Lev Yampolsky
Mentor Home Department
Biological Sciences
Short Abstract
Lipids are one of the chief storage nutrients in many organisms. In many animals lipids containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are the limiting factor for reproduction, as PUFAs are necessary for proper functioning of cellular membranes and their availability in food sets the limit to the number of offspring the mother can provision with storage lipids. On the other hand, PUFAs are the chief targets for lipid peroxidation (LPO) – an important mechanism of oxidative damage. We investigated the schedule of deposition of LPO targets into developing oocytes by females of Daphnia magna, a classic model organism for ecophysiology, by means of fluorescence microscopy in females stained with BODIPY C11 fluorescent dye serving as a specific LPO probe. We observed that, across 3 genotypes tested, the LPO signal was significantly higher in females tested during the late stages of ovaries development, relative to earlier stages. There were no significant genotype-by-ovaries-stage interactions. This finding indicates that Daphnia females postpone depositing of PUFA-containing lipids during oocyte provisioning until late in the ovary cycle. We hypothesize that such delay is adaptive as it reduces the likelihood of the mutagenic effects of LPO products on the oocyte’s genome.
Category
Science, Technology and Engineering
Start Date
5-4-2024 8:00 AM
End Date
5-4-2024 9:00 AM
Location
D.P. Culp Center Room 272 (East Tennessee Room)
Lipid Peroxidation in Daphnia magna Ovaries by Development Stage
D.P. Culp Center Room 272 (East Tennessee Room)
Lipids are one of the chief storage nutrients in many organisms. In many animals lipids containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are the limiting factor for reproduction, as PUFAs are necessary for proper functioning of cellular membranes and their availability in food sets the limit to the number of offspring the mother can provision with storage lipids. On the other hand, PUFAs are the chief targets for lipid peroxidation (LPO) – an important mechanism of oxidative damage. We investigated the schedule of deposition of LPO targets into developing oocytes by females of Daphnia magna, a classic model organism for ecophysiology, by means of fluorescence microscopy in females stained with BODIPY C11 fluorescent dye serving as a specific LPO probe. We observed that, across 3 genotypes tested, the LPO signal was significantly higher in females tested during the late stages of ovaries development, relative to earlier stages. There were no significant genotype-by-ovaries-stage interactions. This finding indicates that Daphnia females postpone depositing of PUFA-containing lipids during oocyte provisioning until late in the ovary cycle. We hypothesize that such delay is adaptive as it reduces the likelihood of the mutagenic effects of LPO products on the oocyte’s genome.