Protein Folding and Embryogenesis in Antarctic Fishes: A Comparative Approach to Environmental Stress

自南极大陆冰川作用的出现、南美洲与南极半岛之间德雷克海峡的开通以及约4000 - 2500万年前南大洋开始变冷以来，南极海洋生物群的进化一直受到极端寒冷温度发展的驱动。 随着环南极沿海温度下降，在此期间从20°C到现代？1.9到+2.0 ° C（达到约800 - 1000万年前），南大洋的嗜冷（喜欢寒冷）的外温动物进化出补偿性的分子，细胞和生理特征，使他们能够在寒冷的温度下保持正常的代谢功能。 今天，这些生物受到威胁的快速变暖的南大洋在几个世纪的时间内测量（高达5°C/100年），一个时间框架如此之短，重新适应和/或驯化？新暖？可能是不可能的 因此，该研究项目的长期目标是：1）了解南极鱼胚胎抵抗或补偿快速海洋变暖的生化和生理能力; 2）评估可用于支持南极鱼胚胎适应和适应其变暖栖息地的遗传工具包。 这项工作的具体目的是：1）确定的能力的伴侣蛋白复合体的notothenioid鱼类，以协助蛋白质折叠的温度之间？4和+20 ° C;（2）以整体差异基因转录为指标，研究温度对背突鱼类胚胎遗传反应的影响。1.9°C作为？正常吗？在未来气候变化情景下海洋狭温动物胚胎发育的生理学是一个重要但研究不足的问题。 该项目将通过研究从生物化学到生物体的多层次生物组织，为南极鱼胚胎适应和适应合理的气候变化情景的能力提供有价值的见解。 研究结果还应广泛适用于了解全球变暖对全世界海洋生物群的影响。 该研究还将向研究生和REU本科生介绍与南极海洋生态系统的生态和环境问题相关的最先进的生物化学，细胞和分子生物学研究。

Since the advent of Antarctic continental glaciation, the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the onset of cooling of the Southern Ocean ~40-25 million years ago, evolution of the Antarctic marine biota has been driven by the development of extreme cold temperatures. As circum-Antarctic coastal temperatures declined during this period from ~20°C to the modern ?1.9 to +2.0°C (reached ~8-10 million years ago), the psychrophilic (cold-loving) ectotherms of the Southern Ocean evolved compensatory molecular, cellular, and physiological traits that enabled them to maintain normal metabolic function at cold temperatures. Today, these organisms are threatened by rapid warming of the Southern Ocean over periods measured in centuries (as much as 5°C/100 yr), a timeframe so short that re-adaptation and/or acclimatization to the ?new warm? may not be possible. Thus, the long-term goals of this research project are: 1) to understand the biochemical and physiological capacities of the embryos of Antarctic notothenioid fish to resist or compensate for rapid oceanic warming; and 2) to assess the genetic toolkit available to support the acclimatization and adaptation of Antarctic notothenioid embryos to their warming habitat. The specific aims of this work are: 1) to determine the capacity of the chaperonin complex of notothenioid fishes to assist protein folding at temperatures between ?4 and +20°C; and 2) to evaluate the genetic responses of notothenioid embryos, measured as global differential gene transcription, to temperature challenge, with ?1.9°C as the ?normal? control and +4 and +10°C as high temperature insults.The physiology of embryonic development of marine stenotherms under future climate change scenarios is an important but understudied problem. This project will provide valuable insights into the capacity of Antarctic fish embryos to acclimatize and adapt to plausible climate change scenarios by examining multiple levels of biological organization, from the biochemical to the organismal. The results should also be broadly applicable to understanding the impact of global warming on marine biota worldwide. The research will also introduce graduate and REU undergraduate students to state-of-the-art biochemical, cellular, and molecular-biological research relevant to ecological and environmental issues of the Antarctic marine ecosystem.