SCMB Seminar: Sex smells - towards understanding aquatic olfaction
Event Details
- Date:
- Wednesday, 07 May 2014
- Time:
- 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Room:
- Seminar Room, Ground floor (Bldg 75)
- UQ Location:
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (St Lucia)
- URL:
- http://scmb.uq.edu.au/calendar/?month=05&year=2014#event_anchor_355
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Dr Benjamin Schulz
- Phone:
- 336 54875
- Email:
- b.schulz@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Event Description
- Full Description:
- Researchers have discovered thousands of terrestrial pheromones, yet only recently has there been rapid progress in our understanding of aquatic pheromones. Our studies have aimed at decoding aquatic sex pheromone systems. To achieve this, we’ve used multi-omics approaches to demonstrate that: 1) Sea slug mate attraction and breeding aggregations is the result of a cocktail of water-borne peptide pheromones that are released during the process of egg laying. Their exquisite chemo sensitivity is made possible through a large family of G protein-coupled receptors located within olfactory organs. 2) Oysters spawn their gametes into the surrounding seawater, relying on reciprocal spawning of the opposite sex for successful gamete fertilization. Male oysters have a protein on the sperm surface that signal to others that it is time to spawn. 3) Male Long fin squid are typically not aggressive, however, they become extremely aggressive within spawning grounds upon contact with a pheromone embedded within egg capsules. Fighting ensues, whereby the successful male gains access to the fertile females. 4) Crown-of-thorns starfish release an enormous cocktail of peptides that are candidates for establishing aggregations within the Great Barrier Reef. These findings have established the importance of peptides as aquatic signaling molecules and enable for the development species-specific methods to manipulate aquatic animal physiology and behaviour.
Scott completed his PhD at Deakin University in 2003 and has since been appointed to positions as Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas Medical Branch and Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, before joining the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2011. He is currently an ARC Future fellow interested in decoding the functional genomics of germ cell migration, hypometabolism and cardinal rules of cell-cell communication using a variety of experimental models.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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