Dissertation Research: Biochemical and Phenotypic Expressionof Gpi Variants in the Bay Scallop

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Virtually every animal and plant species exhibits genetic variation for a variety of enzymes involved in the control of metabolism. Only a few studies have clearly established the relationships among genetic variation for a specific enzyme (genotype), the mechanistic, biochemical expression of that variation, a nd its relevance to the physiology and phenotype of the whole organism. A more integrated approach to examine the biological significance of genetic variation for a single enzyme involves detailing the effects of that variation on the overall rate of energy flow through the metabolic pathway in which the enzyme is embedded. The proposed research will use this approach to attempt to establish a causal explanation for observations for a strong relationship between genetic variation for a specific enzyme and production-related traits in the bay scallop. The proposed mechanism which explains these observations involves the genotype-dependent inhibition of the energy flow through the specific enzyme step and its associated metabolic pathway caused by demands for increased energy flow through a competing pathway. The proposed research will examine the expression of genetic variation at this enzyme step by using radioisotopes to measure the rates of flow through this enzyme as well as through its overall pathway when the enzyme is artificially inhibited with a product from the competing pathway. The results will be significance in areas as diverse as evolutionary biology and biochemistry to those concerned with the significance of genetic variation to economically important traits such as aquaculture and agriculture.