Hayvonot dunyosining zamonaviy sistemasi

Material and methods. 
At the laboratory of the department of biosensorics, we have learned 
and performed molecular biological and biochemical methods such as isolation of RNA, cleanup of 
RNA, cDNA synthesis, polymerase chain reaction, and cloning of a gene into a plasmid vector. All this 
was done with the 
Drosophila
rhodopsin gene for practice. After successful cloning of the 
Drosophila
rhodopsin gene, we went on to clone the termite rhodopsin gene. First, we isolated RNA from heads of 
termites of the worker caste. The RNA was cleaned up and reverse-transcribed to yield cDNA. The 
cDNA was used as a template in a polymerase chain reaction. Since the 
Anacanthotermes
rhodopsin 

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sequence is elusive to date, we had to use primers of a conserved region. To identify suitable primers, 
we compared the rhodopsin protein sequences of 
Zootermopsis nevadensis
and 
Drosophila
and 
identified three highly conserved regions. After that, the respective DNA sequences were compared to 
design the primers. We reasoned that 
Zootermopsis
and 
Anacanthotermes
should be related and 
therefore, we used non-degenerated primers.
Results and discussion. 
As a result, we obtained a PCR product migrating at the predicted size 
of 580 basepairs (see Fig. 1). The PCR product was cloned into a PCR2.1-TOPO vector (Invitrogen) 
and transformed into bacteria. The next steps will be to prepare DNA from different clones and to 
analyze this DNA. Upon successful cloning, we are planning to conduct RACE PCR to obtain sequence 
information about the remaining parts of the gene. 
Figure 1: A, Ethidium bromide stained agarose gel to visualize the PCR product using primers to 
amplify Anacanthotermes rhodopsin. B, Bacterial colonies probably containing rhodopsin-harbouring 
PCR2.1-TOPO vector. 
Besides the cloning of the termite rhodopsin gene, we were interested in the visual abilities of 
Anacanthotermes
. To get insight into this question, we recorded electroretinograms (ERG) from the 
termites. This method is routinely used in Prof. Huber‘s lab to investigate physiological questions about 
vision of 
Drosophila
. With minor modifications, the 
Drosophila
setup could be readily used to record 
ERGs from 
Anacanthotermes
Figure 2: Electroretinogram recordings of Anacanthotermes. The bar below the recordings 
denotes a 5 sec orange (―O‖) light pulse. 
In contrast to the prevalent opinion, we found out that 
Anacanthotermes
, especially the winged 
form, is not blind. Figure 2 shows electroretinogram recordings in response to a 5 sec orange light 
pulse.