Snails

The modem era of biochemistry and molecular biology has been shaped not least by the isolation and characterization of individual molecules. Recently, however, more and more polyfunctional macromolecular complexes are being discovered, including nonrandomly codistributed membrane-bound proteins [41], These are made up of several individual proteins, which can assemble spontaneously, possibly in the presence of a lipid membrane or an element of the cytoskeleton [42] which are themselves supramolecular complexes. Some of these complexes, e.g. snail haemocyanin [4o], are merely assembled from a very large number of identical subunits vimses are much larger and more elaborate and we are still some way from understanding the processes controlling the assembly of the wonderfully intricate and beautiful stmctures responsible for the iridescent colours of butterflies and moths [44]. 

As early as 2500 bce m India indigo was used to dye cloth a deep blue The early Phoenicians discovered that a purple dye of great value Tyrian purple could be extracted from a Mediterranean sea snail The beauty of the color and its scarcity made purple the color of royalty The availability of dyestuffs underwent an abrupt change m 1856 when William Henry Perkin an 18 year old student accidentally discovered a simple way to prepare a deep purple dye which he called mauveme from extracts of coal tar This led to a search for other synthetic dyes and forged a permanent link between industry and chemical research... 

Scale of Operation Voltammetry is routinely used to analyze samples at the parts-per-million level and, in some cases, can be used to detect analytes at the parts-per-billion or parts-per-trillion level. Most analyses are carried out in conventional electrochemical cells using macro samples however, microcells are available that require as little as 50 pL of sample. Microelectrodes, with diameters as small as 2 pm, allow voltammetric measurements to be made on even smaller samples. For example, the concentration of glucose in 200-pm pond snail neurons has been successfully monitored using a 2-pm amperometric glucose electrode. ... 

Each element of an array detector is essentially a small electron multiplier, as with the point ion collector, but much smaller and often shaped either as a narrow linear tube or as somewhat like a snail shell. 

Latia. The freshwater snail Eatia has been reported to provide bioluminescence by the following reaction (236). 

Outdoor Pests biting flies, fire ants, hornets, mosquitoes, ticks, wasps mice, moles snails, slugs mil dews, molds, mosses... 

Triorganotin compounds have also been used experimentally in controUed-release formulations to control the infective snail vector in the debiHtating tropical disease schistosomiasis (biHiarzia) and to control mosquitoes in stagnant ponds (103). As yet, the large-scale use of such methods has Htfle support in the host third world countries where these problems are most severe. Tributyltin chloride has been used to confer rodent-repeUent properties on wine and cable coatings (104). 

Copper has been employed as a bactericide, moUuscicide, and fungicide for a long time and is of importance in the control of schistosomiasis (see also Antiparasitic AGENTS, ANTHELMINTICS FUNGICIDES, AGRICULTURAL). Addition of copper to lake water acts as an efficient deterrent to transmittal of the disease by eliminating snails that act as hosts for the responsible parasite. Copper is commonly utilized at ca 0.1 mg/L as an algicide. In fresh water, acute toxicosis in fish is unusual if the copper concentration is below 0.025 mg/L (70) (see Poisons, economic). 

Biofouling. Organisms present in the fluid stream are attracted to the warm heat-transfer surface where they attach, grow, and reproduce. The two subgroups are microbiofoulants such as shme and algae and macrobiofoulants such as snails and barnacles. 

Cochlea A snail-shaped fluid-filled organ of the inner ear, lined on its inner surface with specialized hair cells that convert sound pressure vibrations into nerve impulses. 

Human Chimpanzee Sheep Rattlesnake Carp Garden snail Tobacco hornworm moth Baker s yeast (iso-1) Cauliflower... 

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 5.28, the number of amino acid differences between two cytochrome c sequences is proportional to the phylogenetic difference between the species from which they are derived. The cytochrome c in humans and in chimpanzees is identical human and another mammalian (sheep) cytochrome c differ at 10 residues. The human cytochrome c sequence has 14 variant residues from a reptile sequence (rattlesnake), 18 from a fish (carp), 29 from a mollusc (snail), 31 from an insect (moth), and more than 40 from yeast or higher plants (cauliflower). 

The magnificent purple pigment referred to in the Bible and known to the Romans as Tyrian purple after the Phoenician port of Tyre (Lebanon), was shown by P. Friedlander in 1909 to be 6,6 -dibromoindigo. This precious dye was extracted in the early days from the small purple snail Murex brandaris, as many as 12000 snails being required to prepare 1.5 g of dye. The element itself was isolated by A.-J. Balard in 1826 from the mother liquors remaining after the crystallization of sodium chloride and sulfate from the waters of the Montpellier salt marshes ... 

Schnecke, /. snail slug worm (of a still) (Geom.) helix (Mach.) worm, endless screw volute spiral stairway (Anal.) cochlea. Schneckel, /. conical spiral. 

In Mollusca, bioluminescence occurs in a great variety of organisms having distinctly different appearances, such as the classes Gastropoda (limpets, snails and sea hares), Bivalvia (clams), and Cephalopoda (squids and octopuses). All luminous molluscs currently known are marine organisms, except the New Zealand fresh water limpet Latia neritoides and the Malaysian land snail Quantula (Dyakia) striata. No information is yet available on the biochemical aspects of the Quantula luminescence. 

Haneda, Y. (1958). Studies on luminescence in marine snails. Pacific Science 12 152-156. 

Isobe, M., et al. (1991). Fluorescence substance in the luminous land snail, Dyakia striata. Agric. Biol. Chem. 55 1947-1951. 

Kojima, S., et al. (2000a). Purification and characterization of the luciferase from the freshwater snail Latia. Abstract, 11th Int. Symp. on Biolumin. Chemilumin., Asilomar, CA, p. 57. 

Conotoxins are the venoms of the marine cone snails. The >500 Conus species produce >10,000 different toxins. All are cysteine-rich peptides of 10-30 amino... 

The negative effects of TBT have been observed in the bivalve larval development of Crassostrea gigas, Mylilus edulisf Venus gallina, Spams aurata, in Nassarius reticulate and in the hermaphroditic snails Phisa fontinalis and Adelomelon brasiliana Since TBT exerts a variety of toxic actions on some mollusks and fishes , an adverse effect of TBT on human health is a real threat. ... 

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