RUI: Mechanisms of acclimation in the Eastern red spotted newt

驯化是个体生物体根据其环境的某些方面改变其特征的过程。驯化是可逆的，这与适应不同，适应通常被定义为对长期环境变化的进化反应。驯化是生物体对环境波动作出反应的重要机制。由自然季节性温度差异带来的特征变化特别令人感兴趣，并且通常在实验室中适应特定温度的动物中进行研究，这些温度模拟了在其自然环境中发现的温度。因此，对自然季节性温度的适应和对实验室中各种温度的适应已经在许多分类群、脊椎动物和无脊椎动物以及植物中得到了很好的描述。尽管季节性热适应和驯化的广泛性，控制和协调这些过程的机制仍然habitu.This研究使用两栖动物模型的实验室驯化实验，以澄清细胞，分子和环境机制，负责控制和协调在一个单一的物种，东方红斑蝾螈的热驯化。它将提供一个最完整的调查驯化在一个单一的冷血脊椎动物物种，并将导致有关的机制，驯化在其自然环境的见解。PI，沿着与本科生同事，将研究与温度调节和适应过程相关的基因的表达。研究人员将通过饮食操作人工改变膜成分，确定特定细胞膜成分在驯化过程中的作用。质谱的使用将使他们能够识别对代谢酶活性至关重要的特定膜成分。控制日照长度和温度的实验室驯化实验将确定对驯化过程最重要的环境线索。了解环境如何影响个体特征将有助于更好地了解我们目前不断变化的全球气温如何影响物种分布和生存。这些信息对于在不断变化的全球环境中确定最佳保护做法至关重要，这一项目的影响将远远超出研究本身的广泛科学影响。作为文科机构的生物学教授，PI始终与本科生合著者在领先的科学期刊上发表文章。资金将为10至12名本科生提供夏季津贴，并为这些学生提供旅行资金，以参加国家会议，介绍他们的研究。此外，PI将与大学的高中少数民族方案“数学和科学桥梁方案”协调，以增加少数民族学生对研究的参与。一个或两个夏季研究的学生每年将进入新生，在桥梁计划前几个夏天参加。让少数民族学生参与研究，并让他们在大学生涯的早期参与研究社区，将增加他们进入并留在STEM学科的可能性。

Acclimatization is a process by which individual organisms vary their characteristics in response to some aspect or aspects of their environment. Acclimatization is reversible, which distinguishes it from adaptation, generally defined as an evolutionary response to long-term environmental alteration. Acclimatization is an important mechanism by which organisms respond to fluctuations in their surroundings. Modifications in characteristics brought on by natural seasonal temperature differences are of particular interest, and are generally studied in animals acclimated to specific temperatures in the laboratory that mimic temperatures found in their natural environment. Thus, both acclimatization to natural seasonal temperatures and acclimation to various temperatures in the laboratory have been well described across numerous taxa, vertebrate and invertebrate as well as in plants. Despite the widespread nature of seasonal thermal acclimatization and acclimation, mechanisms controlling and coordinating these processes remain elusive.This research uses laboratory acclimation experiments on an amphibian model to clarify cellular, molecular and environmental mechanisms responsible for controlling and coordinating thermal acclimation in a single species, the Eastern red spotted newt. It will provide one of the most complete investigations of acclimation in a single cold-blooded vertebrate species, and will lead to insights about mechanisms of acclimatization in their natural environment. The PI, along with undergraduate co-workers, will investigate the expression of genes that are related to temperature regulation and acclimation processes. The investigators will determine the role of particular cellular membrane components in the acclimation process by artificially changing membrane composition through dietary manipulations. The use of mass spectrometry will allow them to identify specific membrane components critical to the activity of metabolic enzymes. Laboratory acclimation experiments controlling day length and temperature will determine the environmental cue most important to the acclimation process. Knowing how environments impact individual characteristics will lead to a better appreciation of how our currently changing global temperatures might impact species distribution and survival. Such information will be critical in determining best conservation practices in the face our changing global environment.This project will have considerable impact beyond the broad scientific impact of the research itself. As a biology professor at a liberal arts institution, the PI consistently publishes with undergraduate co-authors in leading scientific journals. Funding will provide summer stipends for ten to twelve undergraduate students and travel funds for these students to attend national meetings to present their research. In addition, the PI will coordinate with the University's high school minority program "the Bridge Program in Math and Science" to increase the involvement of minority students in research. One or two of the summer research students each year will be entering freshmen that participated during previous summers in the Bridge Program. Engaging minority students in research and involving them in a research community early in their college career will increase the likelihood that they will enter and stay in STEM disciplines.