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Introduction
Introduction
Periwinkle snails are a native member of the North Atlantic intertidal zones (Zhang et al, 2020)
Because periwinkle snails contain stress-responsive microRNA's, they are able to survive under freezing conditions and exposure to anoxia (Zhang et al, 2020)
Background
Background
The shell of a periwinkle snail can reach a maximum diameter of 4 centimeters (Periwinkle, 2016)
The lifespan of a periwinkle is anywhere between three and five years (Periwinkle, 2016)
Periwinkles are most commonly found on rocks of the ocean bed near the shore (Periwinkle, 2016)
Taxonomy details:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Neotaenioglossa
Family: Littorinidae
Genus: Littorina
Species: Littorina littorea (ITIS)
Experimental data
Experimental data
An experiment was done to compare the difference in miRNA expressions between 3 groups of snails: control group, a group exposed to high levels of anoxia, and a group exposed to below freezing temperatures (Zhang et al, 2020)
12 snails were imported from Ottawa, Canada (Zhang et al, 2020)
4 snails were placed into aerated seawater and placed into an incubator at a temperature of 10*C, and were observed for one week (Zhang et al, 2020)
4 nails were placed into a wet paper towel lined box and put into an incubator at -7.5*C for one hour. After this, the temperature was increased to -6*C for 24 hours (Zhang et al, 2020)
4 snails were placed into a box with seawater that had been flushed with nitrogen gas for 30 minutes. There was a continuous gas flow into the container during the 24 hour observation time (Zhang et al, 2020)
After all groups were done, RNA extraction was performed (Zhang et al, 2020)
Data was collected and an analysis was performed (Zhang et al, 2020)
Conclusion
Conclusion
Periwinkle snails have use hepatopancreas miRNA that help protect them from high levels of anoxia and freezing conditions (Zhang et al, 2020)
In comparison to the control group, the results showed that the group of snails exposed to anoxia had a big difference in the pattern of miRNA expression (Zhang et al, 2020)
The group of snails that were placed into freezing water demonstrated that the expression of miRNA was different throughout the snails individually (Zhang et al, 2020)
From these results, we are now able to conclude that periwinkle snails are able to survive under these harsh conditions due to their impeccable ability to use miRNA (Zhang et al, 2020)
References
References
Zhang, Jing, Hanane Hadj-Moussa, and Kenneth B.Storey. 2020. “Marine Periwinkle Stress-Responsive MicroRNAs: A Potential Factor to Reflect Anoxia and Freezing Survival Adaptations.” Genomics 112: 4385-4398.
Government of Canada, F. and O. C. (2016, December 19). Government of Canada. Government of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Communications Branch. Retrieved August 24, 2022, from https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/periwinkle-bigorneau-eng.html
ITIS Standard Report Page: Littorina Littorea, www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=70419#null.
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