EAGER: Systems Approach to Determine Adaptive Mechanisms of Thermal Tolerance in a Model Ectotherm

沿海和河口物种的种群，如海葵，Nematostella vectensis，经历了很大的温度和盐度波动，要求个体能够忍受广泛的环境条件。本种广泛分布于北美大西洋沿岸新斯科舍省至南卡罗莱纳一带，沿此纬度梯度分布的不同种群在许多性状上表现出显著差异。这些物种居住的浅海岸环境具有很高的社会和生态重要性，但很少有研究调查了关键物种如何适应这些热动态环境。本研究将从不同的沿海种群中收集海葵个体，并在热胁迫下饲养，以确定其综合生理和行为反应的遗传基础。这项研究将直接导致对这些动态栖息地中起作用的进化力量的预测。该项目包括在社区学院和K-12机构开展推广工作，以及为少数族裔本科生提供研究经验。研究人员将确定四个种群对急性和慢性温度应激的代谢、转录和生物能量反应。他们还将通过使用延时行为分析的快速表型来识别个体运动和挖洞时间的变化。行为和生理数据将与代谢物和基因表达分析相结合，以确定生物能量变化的分子机制，以及这些变化如何与每个地理位置的温度相关。该物种在热动态环境中的广泛地理分布与独特的分子、基因组和生理工具包的环境相关性允许对自然种群对温度的适应和生理驯化的假设进行新的测试。

Populations of coastal, estuarine species like the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, experience large fluctuations in temperature and salinity, requiring that individuals are capable of tolerating a wide range of environmental conditions. This species is widely distributed along the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, with different populations along this latitudinal gradient displaying marked differences in a number of traits. The shallow, coastal environments inhabited by this species have high societal and ecological importance, yet few studies have examined how key species are adapted to these thermally dynamic environments. This work will identify the genetic basis of the integrated physiological and behavioral responses of individuals of starlet sea anemone collected from different coastal populations and raised under thermal stress. The research will lead directly to predictions about the evolutionary forces acting in these dynamic habitats. The project includes outreach efforts at community colleges and K-12 institutions, along with research experiences for minority undergraduate students. The investigators will determine metabolic, transcriptional, and bioenergetic responses to acute and chronic temperature stress in four populations of N. vectensis. They will also identify variation in individual movement and burrowing times through rapid phenotyping using time-lapse behavioral analyses. The behavioral and physiological data will be integrated with the metabolite and gene expression assays to determine the molecular mechanisms of the bioenergetic changes and how these correlate with temperature from each geographic location. The environmental relevance of this species' broad geographic distribution in thermally dynamic environments with the unique suite of molecular, genomic and physiological toolkits allows novel tests of hypotheses about adaptation and physiological acclimation to temperature in natural populations.