Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, photos, and additional information follow below.
All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 8-13-15.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 17, 2015.
MUSIC – ~6 sec
This week, we feature a tune whose title fits along a
path of connections from biological lights to biomedical research. Have a listen for about 30 seconds.
MUSIC - ~34 sec
You’ve been listening to part of ‘Ode to a Gloworm,’
by No Strings Attached, on the 1999 album, “In the Vinyl Tradition
Volume I.” The tune’s name was inspired by a cancer
patient with a good sense of humor, who upon receiving radiation joked that he was
a “glow worm.” “Glow worm” is a common name for a variety of insects that
are able to produce light from biochemical energy—a process called bioluminescence. Bioluminescence
is familiar to anyone who’s seen fireflies, but the phenomenon also occurs in
many other organisms, including certain bacteria, worms, crustaceans, fungi,
fish, jellyfish, and marine dinoflagellates
that one might see shining in a boat’s wake.
Depending on the organism, bioluminescence can serve the functions of attracting
mates, helping find or lure prey, or defending against predators.
For humans, bioluminescence has long been a source of fascination, but it’s also been the subject of much scientific study, with important applications in biochemistry and biomedicine. For example, certain jellyfish produce a bioluminescent chemical called Green Fluorescent Protein, or GFP. In the 1990s, scientists succeeded in isolating the jellyfish gene that codes for GFP, and today researchers can implant that gene into other organisms’ cells, where the resulting bioluminescence is used to study cancer, brain function, and other areas. As it happens, the first reported experimental expression of that jellyfish bioluminescence gene was in a nematode worm – a genetically engineered glow worm!
From jellyfish to glow worms to cancer research, bioluminescence lights up many remarkable biological connections, including those lurking within the story of this week’s music. Thanks to No Strings Attached for permission to use that music, and let’s close with a few more seconds of, “Ode to a Gloworm.”
For humans, bioluminescence has long been a source of fascination, but it’s also been the subject of much scientific study, with important applications in biochemistry and biomedicine. For example, certain jellyfish produce a bioluminescent chemical called Green Fluorescent Protein, or GFP. In the 1990s, scientists succeeded in isolating the jellyfish gene that codes for GFP, and today researchers can implant that gene into other organisms’ cells, where the resulting bioluminescence is used to study cancer, brain function, and other areas. As it happens, the first reported experimental expression of that jellyfish bioluminescence gene was in a nematode worm – a genetically engineered glow worm!
From jellyfish to glow worms to cancer research, bioluminescence lights up many remarkable biological connections, including those lurking within the story of this week’s music. Thanks to No Strings Attached for permission to use that music, and let’s close with a few more seconds of, “Ode to a Gloworm.”
MUSIC - ~19 sec
For more Virginia water sounds, music, and information, visit
us online at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. Virginia
Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part
of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo
version of Cripple Creek to open and close the show. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you
health, wisdom, and good water.
AUDIO NOTES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“Ode to a Gloworm,” from the 1999 CD “In the Vinyl Tradition
Volume I,” is copyright by No Strings Attached and Enessay Music, used with
permission. More information about No Strings Attached
is available online at http://www.enessay.com.
Thanks for Eric Day, Virginia Tech Department of Entomology, for
providing information for this episode.
PHOTO
 |
Crab with fluorescent bristles on its mouthparts. Image courtesy of Bioluminescence
2009 Expedition, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Office of Exploration and Research (NOAA/OER), a 2009 expedition in the Bahamas
to study bioluminescence on the sea floor.
Photo accessed at http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/09bioluminescence/logs/photolog/photolog.html.
|
Used in Audio
John C. Day (Centre
for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England), “Fireflies and
Glow-worms,” online at http://www.firefliesandglow-worms.co.uk/index.html.
S.H.D. Haddock, C.M. McDougall, and J.F. Case, The
Bioluminescence Web Page, University of California-Santa Barbara, online at http://biolum.eemb.ucsb.edu/.
John Lackie, A Dictionary
of Biomedicine, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2010.
James E. Lloyd and Erin C. Gentry, “Bioluminescence,” in
Vincent H. Resh and Ring T. Cardé, eds., Encyclopedia
of Insects, 2nd Ed., Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, Mass.,
2009.
National Wildlife Federation, “Fireflies, Lightning Bugs,”
online at https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Invertebrates/Firefly.aspx.
K. O’Neill et al.,
“Bioluminescent imaging: a critical tool in pre-clinical oncology research,” Journal of Pathology, Vol. 220, no. 3
(February 2010), pp. 317-327.
Vincent Pieribone and David F. Gruber, Aglow in the Dark: The Revolutionary Science of Bioluminescence,”
Belknap/Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2005.
Osamu Shimomura, Bioluminescence:
Chemical Principles and Methods, World Scientific Publishing Co.,
Hackensack, N.J., 2006.
Wet Tropics Management Authority (Queensland, Australia),
“Glow Worms and Fireflies,” online at http://www.wettropics.gov.au/fireflies.
For More Information on Bioluminescence or Animals that Use It
Donald Ray Burger, “Firefly Reports from Virginia,” online
at http://www.burger.com/ffrepva.htm;
this is one of Mr. Burger’s report pages from various states, which in turn is
part of his “Firefly Page,” online at http://www.burger.com/firefly.htm.
Ben Pfeiffer, “Firefly.org,” a non-profit project to raise
awareness of firefly populations; online at http://www.firefly.org/ .
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Bioluminescence
2009: Living Light on the Deep-sea Floor” (a 2009 expedition in the Bahamas to
study bioluminescence on the sea floor), online at http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/09bioluminescence/welcome.html.
National Park Service/Great Smoky Mountain National Park,
“Synchronous Fireflies,” online at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/fireflies.htm.
Elizabeth Simpson, "After algae caused a blue stir, researchers want to know more," Virginian-Pilot, 8/21/15, online at http://hamptonroads.com/2015/08/after-algae-caused-blue-stir-researchers-want-know-more (about the occurrence of blue-green luminescence caused by a species of dinoflagellate in waters in the Hampton Roads).
Elizabeth Simpson, "After algae caused a blue stir, researchers want to know more," Virginian-Pilot, 8/21/15, online at http://hamptonroads.com/2015/08/after-algae-caused-blue-stir-researchers-want-know-more (about the occurrence of blue-green luminescence caused by a species of dinoflagellate in waters in the Hampton Roads).
SOLS INFORMATION FOR
VIRGINIA TEACHERS
This episode may help with the following Virginia’s 2010 Science
Standards of Learning (SOLs):
Grades K-6 Earth
Resources Theme4.9 - Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water
resources, and organisms.
Grades K-6 Force, Motion, and Energy Theme
6.2 – energy sources, transformations, and uses.
Grades K-6 Interrelationships in Earth/Space Systems Theme
5.6 – characteristics of the ocean environment.
Grades K-6 Life
Processes Theme
1.5 - animals’ basic needs and distinguishing
characteristics.
2.4 - life cycles.
3.4 - behavioral and physiological adaptations.
Grades K-6 Living
Systems Theme
2.5 - living things as part of a system, including habitats.
3.5 - food webs.
5.5 - organism features and classification.
Life Science Course
LS. 4 - organisms’ features and classification.
LS.6 - ecosystem interactions, including cycles and energy
flow.
LS.8 - community and population interactions, including food
webs, niches, symbiotic relationships.
LS.9 - adaptations for particular ecosystems’ biotic and
abiotic factors.
LS.12 – genetic information and DNA.
Physical
Science Course
PS.6 – energy forms, transfer, and transformations.
Earth
Science Course
ES.6 – renewable vs. non-renewable resources (including energy
resources).
ES.10 – ocean processes, interactions, and policies.
Biology Course
BIO.2 – chemical and biochemical principles.
BIO.5 – inheritance, protein synthesis, DNA structure, DNA technologies.
BIO.6 - bases for modern classification systems, including structures,
biochemistry, and developmental stages.
BIO.8 - dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations,
communities, and ecosystems; including analysis of the flora, fauna, and
microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.
Physics
Course
PH.7 – energy transfer, transformations, and capacity to do work.
Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department
of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.
