Collaborative research: Mechanisms of reproductive, developmental, and early life stage impacts of marine oil spills in a vertebrate sentinel model

合作研究：脊椎动物哨兵模型中海洋石油泄漏对生殖、发育和早期生命阶段影响的机制

• 批准号: 1314567
• 负责人: Andrew Whitehead
• 金额: $ 27.06万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-02-15 至 2018-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1314567&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; research; Mechanisms; reproductive; developmental

Marine oil spills can release large volumes of persistently toxic chemicals into the environment, and many large active oil fields are in close proximity to high-density coastal human populations where humans can be exposed through clean-up and remediation efforts, through contact with oiled media in popular vacation areas, and through the food chain. Despite many large oil spills in recent years close to populated regions, and a few studies testing for acute and psychological impacts in humans, remarkably little is known of the medium and long-term health impacts of oil spills on important biological processes such as reproduction, development, growth, and performance. In this project, a research team from the University of California at Davis, the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, and the Louisiana State University and A & M College will explore the biological impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to study such effects. They will use the Gulf killifish as a sentinel animal model because they offer an opportunity to carefully link cause with effect by virtue of their relatively short life cycle, a well-provisioned molecular and physiological toolkit, their local residence and well-documented exposure to the event in the field, and because they are tractable for laboratory and field studies providing an opportunity to verify predicted effects in the real world. Fish are established models for human health and development, and killifish are particularly appropriate for studying consequences of the DWH oil spill specifically because they are abundant, local, and non-migratory residents of Gulf of Mexico regions directly affected by the spill event. The team already has evidence that killifish were exposed and affected by the event. Now their objectives are to test for oil spill effects at various sensitive stages of the vertebrate life cycle including effects that span generations, to characterize the spatial and temporal extent of vertebrate risk from the spill, and to test for the influence of individual and population genetic variation on sensitivity to oil pollution. Broader Impacts: There remains a clear deficiency in our understanding of health effects from hydrocarbon exposures that emerge over the medium and long term. This research will offer insight into risk and mechanisms of oil spill impacts in a vertebrate model, offer biomarkers predictive or reflective of impaired biological processes, and accelerate the discovery of genetic and physiological risk factors. The project will support the training of PhD students and undergraduate researchers. PhD students from both LSU and UC-Davis will participate in EnvironMentors, a program that pairs graduate students with students from local high schools for an academic year, during which time participants are guided in the completion of an independent research project to be presented as a scientific poster at a local science fair. The LSU group will also present these posters and other summarized research results at Ocean Commotion, a yearly event organized by the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, which attract thousands of local K-8 students. Given the socio-economical landscape of Louisiana, a diverse elementary school and undergraduate student body will be engaged by these outreach efforts. Furthermore, undergraduate research participation of groups that are historically underrepresented in the sciences will be supported through programs offered by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (LSU), the Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LSU), and Aggie Ambassadors program (UC Davis). JOINT FUNDING BY NSF AND NIEHS: The original proposal on which this project is based (R01 ES021934-01) was submitted to the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS) in response to Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-ES-11-013 , "Oceans, Great Lakes and Human Health (R01)", an opportunity jointly sponsored by NSF. This project is cooperatively funded through separate awards from NSF and NIEHS.

海洋石油泄漏会向环境中释放大量的持久有毒化学品，许多大型活跃油田靠近高密度的沿海人口，人类可以通过清理和补救工作，通过接触受欢迎的度假区的含油介质以及通过食物链接触。尽管近年来在人口稠密地区附近发生了多起大规模石油泄漏事件，并且进行了一些研究来测试对人类的急性和心理影响，但人们对石油泄漏对重要生物过程（例如生殖、发育、生长）的中长期健康影响知之甚少。和性能。在这个项目中，来自加州大学戴维斯分校、路易斯安那州立大学农业中心、路易斯安那州立大学和A M学院的一个研究小组将探索深水地平线漏油事件的生物影响，以研究此类影响。他们将使用墨西哥湾鳉鱼作为哨兵动物模型，因为它们提供了一个机会，通过其相对较短的生命周期，一个供应充足的分子和生理工具包，它们的当地居住和在现场对事件的充分记录，仔细联系因果关系，因为它们易于进行实验室和现场研究，提供了一个机会来验证真实的世界中的预测影响。鱼类是人类健康和发展的既定模型，而Killifish特别适合研究DWH石油泄漏的后果，因为它们是墨西哥湾地区直接受泄漏事件影响的丰富，本地和非迁移性居民。该小组已经有证据表明，鳉鱼受到了暴露和影响的事件。现在，他们的目标是测试石油泄漏对脊椎动物生命周期各个敏感阶段的影响，包括跨代影响，确定泄漏对脊椎动物风险的空间和时间范围，并测试个体和群体遗传变异对石油污染敏感性的影响。更广泛的影响：我们对中长期暴露于碳氢化合物对健康的影响的认识仍然明显不足。 这项研究将深入了解脊椎动物模型中石油泄漏影响的风险和机制，提供预测或反映受损生物过程的生物标志物，并加速发现遗传和生理风险因素。该项目将支持博士生和本科生研究人员的培训。来自路易斯安那州立大学和加州大学戴维斯分校的博士生将参加EnvironMentors，这是一个将研究生与当地高中学生配对一学年的计划，在此期间，参与者将被引导完成一个独立的研究项目，作为科学海报在当地的科学博览会上展示。路易斯安那州立大学的研究小组还将在海洋震荡中展示这些海报和其他总结的研究成果，海洋震荡是路易斯安那州海洋赠款学院计划组织的年度活动，吸引了数千名当地的K-8学生。鉴于路易斯安那州的社会经济景观，一个多样化的小学和本科学生团体将参与这些推广工作。此外，本科研究参与的群体是历史上在科学代表性不足将通过由霍华德休斯医学研究所（LSU），路易斯安那州联盟少数民族参与（LSU）和阿吉大使计划（加州大学戴维斯分校）提供的方案支持。NSF和NIEHS联合资助：本项目所依据的原始提案（R 01 ES 021934 -01）已提交给美国国立环境健康科学研究院（NIH/NIEHS），以响应由NSF联合赞助的资助机会公告RFA-ES-11-013“海洋、五大湖和人类健康（R 01）"。 该项目通过NSF和NIEHS的单独奖励合作资助。