Leeches in the extreme: Morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to inhospitable habitats

Phillips, Anna J.; Govedich, Fredric R.; Moser, William E.

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.09.003

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Furthermore, with appropriate neuromuscular control, the funnel grooves and surrounding mucus can work together to further improve the non-slip and waterproof seal of the sucker [ 32 ]. The leech is a freshwater annelid with a gully-like structure [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Each leech has two suckers at the front and back, and its posterior sucker is larger than the anterior sucker on its head, which together help it to achieve attachment to the surface of the host and inchworm crawling [ 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

Section: Non-smooth Structural Morphologies and Attachment Mechanisms...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Bionic Attachment Equipment Inspired by the Attachment Performance of Aquatic Organisms: A Review

et al. 2023

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In nature, aquatic organisms have evolved various attachment systems, and their attachment ability has become a specific and mysterious survival skill for them. Therefore, it is significant to study and use their unique attachment surfaces and outstanding attachment characteristics for reference and develop new attachment equipment with excellent performance. Based on this, in this review, the unique non-smooth surface morphologies of their suction cups are classified and the key roles of these special surface morphologies in the attachment process are introduced in detail. The recent research on the attachment capacity of aquatic suction cups and other related attachment studies are described. Emphatically, the research progress of advanced bionic attachment equipment and technology in recent years, including attachment robots, flexible grasping manipulators, suction cup accessories, micro-suction cup patches, etc., is summarized. Finally, the existing problems and challenges in the field of biomimetic attachment are analyzed, and the focus and direction of biomimetic attachment research in the future are pointed out.

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Section: Non-smooth Structural Morphologies and Attachment Mechanisms...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Bionic Attachment Equipment Inspired by the Attachment Performance of Aquatic Organisms: A Review

et al. 2023

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“…In contrast, the large body of regional research and a few available global reviews on the taxonomy and biogeography of freshwater leeches barely contain references to the Arctic fauna 1 , 2 , 11 . A comprehensive overview of the leech’s adaptations to extreme environments considers only marine piscicolids as common inhabitants of polar oceans, tolerant to very low temperatures 12 . Blanchard 13 published the first article on freshwater Hirudinea from the Arctic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryptic taxonomic diversity and high-latitude melanism in the glossiphoniid leech assemblage from the Eurasian Arctic

Bolotov

Kondakov

Eliseeva

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The family Glossiphoniidae is a diverse and widespread clade of freshwater leeches, playing a significant role in functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The taxonomy and biogeography of leeches from temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions attracted much attention of zoologists, while their taxonomic richness and distribution in the Arctic are poorly understood. Here, we present an overview of the Eurasian Arctic Glossiphoniidae based on the most comprehensive occurrence and DNA sequence datasets sampled to date. This fauna contains 14 species, belonging to five genera and three subfamilies. One genus and five species are new to science and described here. The world’s northernmost occurrences of glossiphoniids are situated on the Taymyr Peninsula at 72° N, although further records at higher latitudes are expected. Most Arctic leeches are characterized by broad ranges crossing several climatic zones (e.g., Glossiphonia balcanica and G. nebulosa), although the distribution of two new species may be confined to the high-latitude areas. The Taymyr Peninsula with the nearby Putorana Plateau represents the most species-rich area (totally 9 species), while the European Arctic, Iceland, Kolyma Highland, and Chukotka Peninsula house depleted faunas (2–4 species per subregion). Finally, we show that the high-latitude melanism is a common phenomenon in glossiphoniid leeches.

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“…The medicinal leeches ( Annelida , Clitellata , and Hirudiniformes ) are categorized as aquatic predators that have widely been distributed across the globe and exhibited a variety of behavioral and physiological characteristics which are of great interest to evolutionary, biochemical, and pharmaceutical studies ( Phillips et al, 2020 ). Based on their feeding habits, leeches are grouped into two major types, that is, non–blood-sucking and blood-sucking leeches ( Chopin et al, 1998 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive Transcriptome Sequencing Analysis of Hirudinaria manillensis in Different Growth Periods

Shan

Liu

et al. 2022

Front. Physiol.

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Medical leeches are widely been used in biochemical and clinical medical studies, helping to restore blood circulation to grafted or severely injured tissue. Mostly, adult leeches are being used in the traditional pharmacopeia, but the gene expression profiling of leeches in different growth periods is not well-reported. So, in this study, we used transcriptome analysis to analyze the comparative gene expression patterns of Hirudinaria manillensis (H. manillensis) in different growth periods, including larval, young, and adult stages. We constructed 24 cDNA libraries from H. manillensis larval, young, and adult stages, and about 54,639,118 sequences were generated, 18,106 mRNA transcripts of which 958 novel mRNAs and 491 lncRNAs were also assembled as well. Furthermore, the results of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses revealed that the differentially upregulated genes from the larval to adult stages were enriched in pathways such as cilium, myofibril, contractile fiber, cytoskeleton proteins, dilated cardiomyopathy, adrenergic signaling in cardiomyocytes, etc. Moreover, in the adult stages, a significant increase in the expression of the Hirudin-HM (HIRM2) genes was detected. In addition, our comparative transcriptome profiling data from different growth stages of H. manillensis also identified a large number of DEGs and DElncRNAs which were tentatively found to be associated with the growth of H. manillensis; as it grew, the muscle-related gene expression increased, while the lipid metabolism and need for stimulation and nutrition-related genes decreased. Similarly, the higher expression of HIRM2 might attribute to the high expression of protein disulfide isomerase gene family (PDI) family genes in adulthood, which provides an important clue that why adult leeches rather than young leeches are widely used in clinical therapeutics and traditional Chinese medicine.

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Leeches in the extreme: Morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to inhospitable habitats

Cited by 20 publications

References 80 publications

Advanced Bionic Attachment Equipment Inspired by the Attachment Performance of Aquatic Organisms: A Review

Advanced Bionic Attachment Equipment Inspired by the Attachment Performance of Aquatic Organisms: A Review

Cryptic taxonomic diversity and high-latitude melanism in the glossiphoniid leech assemblage from the Eurasian Arctic

Comprehensive Transcriptome Sequencing Analysis of Hirudinaria manillensis in Different Growth Periods

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