russellularrespiration

You may not realize it, but you have the ability to hear plants harnessing the sun’s energy to perform the reaction of photosynthesis. All you have to do is take a dive under water and listen carefully for the distinct “ping” noise made while down there. New studies have found that this “ping” is the sound that underwater plants, such as red algae, make when performing photosynthesis.

Algae and other underwater plants perform photosynthesis just like any other land plant. What this means is that they use the sun’s rays to chemically convert carbon dioxide and water into a sugar used for plant energy and oxygen as a waste product that flows throughout the planets atmosphere. In the underwater atmosphere, these oxygen molecules are tiny bubbles that race upwards in the water. Researchers have found that when these oxygen bubbles disconnect from the plants they make a sudden “ping” noise.

The noise was first recognized by researchers in Hawaii when the Hakai Magazine reported that healthy and protected coral reefs were making low frequency sounds, while damaged coral reefs were making higher pitched sounds.

One researcher from this magazine, Simon Freeman, said that “there seemed to be a correlation between the sound and the proportion of algae covering the sea floor.” To test this assumption, Freeman and his team transferred 22lbs of invasive red algae from the Hawaiian bay to a tank filled with sea water in attempt to hear the pinging sound without the noisy distractions of the ocean. As it turned out, this research team heard the same high frequency pings from this algae as they did from the distressed reefs.

Researchers claim that a large part of corals’ distress comes from all the algae that are smothering the corals, and this is why the distressed corals had a higher frequency noise: they had more algae covering its surface that perform photosynthesis and produce these oxygen bubbles. They believe with this finding that monitoring the sounds of the oxygen bubbles could be a fast and less invasive way of keeping track of the health of coral reefs.

This connects to what we have learned in AP Bio as in the process of photosynthesis, the chlorophyll of a plant absorbs light energy called photons, which excites the chlorophyll. The excited chlorophyll pass the photons from one chlorophyll to another until the energy reaches a special chlorophyll in the reaction complex center of Photosystem II known as the p680 chlorophyll. Once the photon reachers this special chlorophyll, p680 donates an electron to the primary electron acceptor in the thylakoid membrane to start the electron transport chain. In order to replace this donated electron, water molecules (one of the reactants of photosynthesis) are quickly split up resulting in an electron and replace the donated one, hydrogen, and oxygen as a waste product. This oxygen that is released at this point of the photosynthesis process is the oxygen that is released from all plants, including the underwater plants like the algae, when they perform photosynthesis. It is waste oxygen that is released from the algae underwater that forms the oxygen bubbles that detach from the plants and float upwards, and eventually make the “ping” noise underwater that you can hear when you dive in. Moreover, when we say you can “hear photosynthesis,” what you are really hearing is the oxygen bubbles created as a waste product of photosynthesis when they detach from the plants.

When going out to a beach and diving underwater, I would sometimes find myself hearing a faint little pinging or bubble popping noise. Could this noise I am hearing be the oxygen bubbles from the photosynthesis of underwater plants? What do you think?

Enhanced efficiency with Reduced Dosage: Advancement’s in Moderna’s mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine

By russellularrespiration

On December 7, 2023

In Student Post

Moderna has rolled our many versions of vaccines to fight against Covid-19 since the pandemic began in 2020. One of their latest versions of the Covid-19 vaccine is a streamlined version of its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, called mRNA-1283. For those who don’t know, mRNA vaccines are vaccines that work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer membrane. What is interesting about the mRNA-1283 vaccine and makes it seem quite efficient is that it is more effective at lower doses and lasts twice as long when stored in a refrigerator. This is likely due to a very unique feature of the mRNA-1283 vaccine: it does not include mRNA that corresponds to all parts of the famous SARS-CoV-2 spike protein—a protein on the SARS-CoV-2 virus that allows the virus to penetrate host cells and cause infection. Instead, it includes mRNA that corresponds to just two specific key parts of the spike protein.

Many studies have shown that the most effective antibodies to fight against Covid-19 are those that bind to one of the two key sites of the spike protein that protrude from the virus’s surface. For instance, one of these two key sites is the region on the spike protein responsible for attaching to human cells and assisting the virus in entering the human cell. Therefore, antibodies that bind to this key site will block the spike protein from attaching to the human cell and entering the cell.

A majority of the current existing Covid-19 vaccines, including other existing Moderna vaccines, contains the entire spike protein. This causes the immune system to create antibodies against all parts of the spike protein, meaning that many of these antibodies are ineffective because not all parts of the spike protein are responsible for entering or harming human cells. On the other hand, Moderna’s mRNA-1283 vaccine consists only of mRNA coding for the two parts of the protein that contain the two key sites of the spike protein that are harmful to human cells, which means all of these antibodies are effective.

When the the first human trial of mRNA-1283 was given, it revealed that even when people were given a tenth of the full dose for one of Moderna’s original Covid-19 vaccines, called mRNA-1273, they produced an antibody response that was just as strong as a full dose of this original mRNA-1273 vaccine, according to a trial released in October 2022.

Additionally, the mRNAs in the mRNA-1283 vaccine are shorter than those in the mRNA vaccines coding for the entire spike protein, reducing the chance of mRNA breakdown and allowing the vaccine to last longer. When stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, the mRNA-1283 vaccine takes a year for 40 percent of the mRNAs to degrade, while the mRNAs in mRNA-1273 take only six months to degrade at these temperatures.

This connects to what we have learned in AP Bio class as in AP Bio we learned about the process of adaptive immunity. We learned that an adaptive immune response occurs when all the first and second line defenses of the body, such as skin or mucus, are unsuccessful in preventing a virus, such as Covid-19, or bacteria from spreading in the body. An adaptive immune response is then needed to target the virus or bacteria. Adaptive immune responses rely on two types of lymphocytes: B cells and T cells. B cells are the cells that take on the invading Pathogen, so in the case they would take on the SARS-CoV-2 in the body directly, while the T cells target the cells that were already infected by the virus. The adaptive immune response begins when the Macrophage cells of the body engulf the antigen through phagocytosis and then the vesicle formed for the antigen once engulfed inside the Macrophage fuses with a lysosome to break down the antigen. As the lysosome breaks down the antigen, it preserves the foreign antigen (epitope) which is the little part of the antigen that is recognized by the immune system. The epitope is then displayed on the outside of the macrophage membrane on the MHC protein. The T-helper cells see this displayed foreign antigen on the MHC protein and use their receptors to identify and recognize this foreign antigen. Once the T-helper Cell recognizes these proteins, it is now activated and releases interleukin which signals the start of the process to fight the foreign invader (the key sites on the spike protein) and activates the B and T cells. In the Humoral Response, the B cells bind to the foreign antigen that the T-helper cell recognized and once recognized by the B-cell, the T-helper cells help create the B-plasma cells. These B-plasma cells create antibodies to bind to and neutralize the foreign antigen.

In the case of covid-19, the foreign antigen, or small piece of the antigen that is recognized by the immune system, are the two key sites on the spike protein that we discussed. The T-cells recognize these key sites when they are embedded on the MHC protein and activate which releases interleukin and signals the start to the immune response. One of these immune responses is the Humoral Response which activates the B-cells to bind and recognize these key sites on the spike proteins as well. From here, the T-helper cells help create the B-plasma cells which create antibodies to surround and neutralize the two key parts of the spike protein (the foreign invader). Antibodies produced by covid-19 vaccines that are for the whole spike protein are producing some antibodies that are not going to surround and attack these two specific key sites of the spike protein/ the foreign antigen. On the other hand, the mRNA-1283 vaccine only produces antibodies that attack the specific key sites on the spike proteins (the foreign invader), so it is not producing any antibodies that are ineffective in fighting SARS-CoV-2. This makes the mRNA-1283 vaccine just as effective or more effective in smaller doses as other vaccines that produce antibodies for the whole spike protein are in larger doses because even though the vaccines for the whole spike protein are producing more antibodies, some of these antibodies don’t fight the specific foreign antigen that is preserved when the antigen is broken down by the lysosome in the Macrophage cell and needs an immune response, and instead try to fight the whole antigen (the whole spike protein) which is unnecessary.

As Covid-19 continues to evolve, more and more versions of Covid-19 vaccines are emerging, making it increasingly challenging for people like myself to decide which vaccine is truly ‘the best’ and should be taken. After delving deeper into the Moderna mRNA-1283 vaccine, it seems that, due to its exclusive focus on the key aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, this version of the Covid-19 vaccine could indeed be at the top of the list for the most efficient Covid-19 vaccines. As someone who has fallen ill after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in the past, the prospect of receiving a lower dosage of the Covid vaccine while still achieving the same or better effectiveness is definitely intriguing to me. When it is time for you to get your next Covid-19 vaccine, would you be interested in trying Moderna’s mRNA-1283 vaccine as your next Covid vaccination?

The Octopus’ Unique Way of Coping with the Cold

By russellularrespiration

On October 31, 2023

In Student Post

The ocean is home to many different species in the world. Oftentimes, this home can be very cold place. Species across the ocean all have different ways of adapting to this cold : Mammals like seals stay warm by enveloping themselves in a layer of thick fur and blubber, for example. However, Cephalopods, such as Squids and Octopuses, don’t have the luxury of any thick fur or blubber. So how can they adapt to living in the cold ocean?

Recent research has shown that some Octopuses and Squid adapt to the cold temperatures by altering their bodies on the molecular level.

One researcher reports June 8 in Cell has shown that when water temperatures inside the tank of a California two-spot Octopus drops below 10 degrees Celsius, this Octopus changes what proteins they produce by editing tons of their own RNA.

A molecular neurobiologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods hole, Mass, Joshua Rosenthal, says that this incredibly high level of molecular editing can also help octopuses’ brains function when temperatures plunge (as most of the this molecular editing occurs in the nervous system).

Scientists have known for decades that Cephalopods, such as Octopus, are masters of RNA. Only about 3% of mRNA in humans have the ability to be edited. Octopuses and Squids, on the other hand, take this editing to another level changing thousands of mRNA.

What scientist didn’t know about Cephalopods yet is what sets off the editing of the mRNA. Research now suggests that temperature is potentially the trigger. Rosenthal and his colleagues set off to test this potential trigger. They either heated or cooled the tank temperature of a California two spotted octopus and looked at what proteins it produced in its brain. They noticed that heating set off very minimal mRNA editing, while cool temperatures edited over 20,000 mRNA sites.

This relates to what we learn in AP Biology as we learned about the process of protein synthesis within cells. We learned that the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell (such as the cells of a animal like an Octopus) contain chromosomes consisting of DNA. This DNA holds the instructions to synthesizing proteins, and mRNA is formed and transports these instructions. The mRNA leaves the nucleus through the nuclear pores and finds the ribosomes in the cytosol or on the Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum to carry out the instructions the mRNA holds and enter the next stage of the protein synthesis. What we learn here, however, is that it is not always a direct path for the mRNA to the ribosomes. Especially in these Octopuses, the mRNA is edited and the instructions they carry get changed and with this they get sent to different Ribosomes where different proteins from the ones originally instructed are formed.

This discovery of Cephalopods high levels of molecular editing is a very fascinating insight as it shows us the that cell activities aren’t as straight forward as sometimes they may seem. As humans, we often live in suitable living conditions and our cells create proteins simply based off the instructions of our DNA. We carry out the process that is typically learned in AP biology. But for species such as the California two- spotted Octopus, this simplistic process is not always followed. The instructions held by the mRNA are edited creating different proteins. This makes it clear that Octopuses are not only different from many species on the outside, but on a molecular level too.

I have often wondered how unique species such as the Octopus are so different from us, not only in ways we can see but also on a internal or molecular level too! Do you know of any other unique species that are also this molecularly distinct from humans?

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Author: russellularrespiration

Can You Hear Photosynthesis Occurring Underwater ?

Enhanced efficiency with Reduced Dosage: Advancement’s in Moderna’s mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine

The Octopus’ Unique Way of Coping with the Cold

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