School of Science Department of Ocean Science 52 Learning of Basic Molecular Biology Skills in Non-model Marine Organisms Supervisor: WU Longjun / OCES Student: HUI Wang Kit Zachary / BCB Course: UROP 1000, Summer This report aims to outline the lab experience I have had in Professor Longjun Wu's lab, which includes 1. zooplankton sampling in multiple areas of Hong Kong. 2. An attempt at rearing multiple different species of jellyfish such as Sarsia sp., Catostylus mosaicus, Cladonema sp., Turritopsis sp. and an unidentified species of immortal jellyfish endemic to HK. Learning of Basic Molecular Biology Skills in Non-model Marine Organisms Supervisor: WU Longjun / OCES Student: WONG Wing Ki / BCB Course: UROP 1000, Summer Rotifers are minute creatures under the diverse family of zooplankton, with sizes ranging from barely 100 μm long to giants of 2 mm (Thackeray, 2022). Despite their microscopic size, they significantly contribute to marine diversity through the nutrient loop within freshwater lakes, coastal waters, and estuarine environments (Thackeray, 2022). However, the understanding of zooplankton regarding their behavior and dynamics, especially in nutrient depletion and imbalance regions, remains understudied. We hope to investigate the response of rotifer in varying nutrient conditions. In this study, there will be three experimental stages that involve algae cultivation, rotifer feeding, RNA extractions, and sequencing. Marine Animal Bioinformatics Supervisor: WU Longjun / OCES Student: WONG Sze Chai Helen / BCB-IRE Course: UROP 1100, Fall Escapin is an L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) present in the defensive ink of the California sea hare Aplysia californica. Despite escapin’s ecological importance, few studies have focused on its evolutionary origin. Our phylogenetic analysis provides new evidence that escapin and its homologs in other sea hares are laterally transferred from bacteria and may hence share the same evolutionary origin. The clustering of several annelid sequences with mollusc and bacterial sequences, together with the presence of introns in these sequences, favors our hypothesis that this lateral gene transfer (LGT) event may date back to before molluscannelid diversification. Overall, our results provide further support to the notion that LGT is likely an important driver for the evolution of adaptive traits in metazoans.
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