Date of Award
May 2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Member
Matthew Turnbull
Committee Member
Francis Reay-Jones
Committee Member
Andrew Mount
Abstract
The midgut is the main point of interaction between a lepidopteran larva and its environment, so understanding how the gut functions is important not just for understanding gut physiology but also the ecology and evolution of these organism. The midgut of these larvae is a fascinating system in which to study developmental, regeneration, and immune physiology. The midgut can exhibit up to a 200-fold increase in size through ontogeny, primarily through addition of new cells at molt, while damaged cells are replaced throughout intermolt periods. In the midgut of lepidopteran larvae, mature cells are produced from stem cells, localized in pockets underneath the mature cells.
Several regulators of stem cell activity are known, but no integrative model has been established. In numerous animal taxa, bioelectric phenomena regulate stem cell activity, including duplication and differentiation. Here, we are using the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, to characterize bioelectric patterns in the lepidopteran larval gut. We adapted a method to isolate stem and mature gut cells from physiologically staged fourth instar larvae and assay their membrane potential. As bioelectric phenomena are highly important in gut physiology, our results may be useful in regulating lepidopteran pests. Finally, our results could help further our understanding of how physiology and an organism’s environment interact.
Recommended Citation
Melton, Richard, "Patterns of Membrane Potential of Cells Isolated from the Midgut of Heliothis virescens" (2020). All Theses. 3340.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3340