Gruber David F.

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Gruber
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David F.
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  • Article
    Luciferin production and luciferase transcription in the bioluminescent copepod Metridia lucens
    (PeerJ, 2018-09-14) Tessler, Michael ; Gaffney, Jean P. ; Crawford, Jason M. ; Trautman, Eric ; Gujarati, Nehaben A. ; Alatalo, Philip ; Pieribone, Vincent A. ; Gruber, David F.
    Bioluminescent copepods are often the most abundant marine zooplankton and play critical roles in oceanic food webs. Metridia copepods exhibit particularly bright bioluminescence, and the molecular basis of their light production has just recently begun to be explored. Here we add to this body of work by transcriptomically profiling Metridia lucens, a common species found in temperate, northern, and southern latitudes. In this previously molecularly-uncharacterized species, we find the typical luciferase paralog gene set found in Metridia. More surprisingly, we recover noteworthy putative luciferase sequences that had not been described from Metridia species, indicating that bioluminescence produced by these copepods may be more complex than previously known. This includes another copepod luciferase, as well as one from a shrimp. Furthermore, feeding experiments using mass spectrometry and 13C labelled L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine firmly establish that M. lucens produces its own coelenterazine luciferin rather than acquiring it through diet. This coelenterazine synthesis has only been directly confirmed in one other copepod species.
  • Article
    Shipboard design and fabrication of custom 3D-printed soft robotic manipulators for the investigation of delicate deep-sea organisms
    (Public Library of Science, 2018-08-01) Vogt, Daniel M. ; Becker, Kaitlyn P. ; Phillips, Brennan T. ; Graule, Moritz A. ; Rotjan, Randi ; Shank, Timothy M. ; Cordes, Erik E. ; Wood, Robert J. ; Gruber, David F.
    Soft robotics is an emerging technology that has shown considerable promise in deep-sea marine biological applications. It is particularly useful in facilitating delicate interactions with fragile marine organisms. This study describes the shipboard design, 3D printing and integration of custom soft robotic manipulators for investigating and interacting with deep-sea organisms. Soft robotics manipulators were tested down to 2224m via a Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) and facilitated the study of a diverse suite of soft-bodied and fragile marine life. Instantaneous feedback from the ROV pilots and biologists allowed for rapid re-design, such as adding “fingernails”, and re-fabrication of soft manipulators at sea. These were then used to successfully grasp fragile deep-sea animals, such as goniasterids and holothurians, which have historically been difficult to collect undamaged via rigid mechanical arms and suction samplers. As scientific expeditions to remote parts of the world are costly and lengthy to plan, on-the-fly soft robot actuator printing offers a real-time solution to better understand and interact with delicate deep-sea environments, soft-bodied, brittle, and otherwise fragile organisms. This also offers a less invasive means of interacting with slow-growing deep marine organisms, some of which can be up to 18,000 years old.