The experiment concerning Ischnura elegans gene expression at INS PAS has been completed. The subjects of this experiment were rural populations of odonates from two latitudes: southern Poland and southern Sweden. From each population 10 larvae per 10 families were observed. The larvae were exposed to two factors: temperature (20°C or 24°C) and the scent of a predator (spiny-cheek crayfish Orconectes limosus):
latitude (2) x temperature (2: 20°C and 24°C) x predator (2, including control groups) = 16 groups x 10 families x 10 larvae = 1600 larvae
From these 1600 larvae, once they reached F-1 stage, Gemma Palomar selected 1 larva of each family and preserved in RNA later buffer for further analysis. The representative individuals were divided into 21 batches, containing 8 larvae from different groups each. This allows to reduce as much as possible the impact of the technical procedures, applied to the larvae batches, on the results of the study.
The larvae were transferred to the to the Molecular Ecology Lab of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the Jagiellonian University, where Marzena Marszałek, supervised by Wiesław Babik, will conduct an RNA extraction procedure in January 2022. As a result, it will be possible to see the differences in gene expression between groups of individuals exposed to different factors within the experiment...
We look forward to the results of these analyses.