MCA: Utilizing high-throughput proteomics to build a conceptual model of the effects of environmental change on early life stages of genetically diverse herring populations

太平洋鲱鱼代表了沿着美国西海岸的海洋食物网的关键环节，将它们所吃的浮游生物与更大的捕食者（鱼类，海鸟和海洋哺乳动物）联系起来。温度强烈影响鲱鱼的发育和成功。这项研究的目标是通过检查蛋白质表达的季节性差异来驱动其温度反应的潜在途径。 其结果将是更好地了解受温度影响最大的过程，如特定的代谢过程或应激反应。 该项目支持对研究人员进行新蛋白质组学技术培训，并为私立本科院校的本科生提供培训。外联活动包括与当地利益攸关方和沿海土著社区接触。社会效益包括更好地了解种群差异，为文化，经济和生态重要物种的保护和恢复工作提供信息。太平洋鲱鱼是生态上重要的饲料鱼;其生物量的波动推动了深远的食物网反应。气候变化被怀疑是种群趋势的主要驱动力，但驱动生理反应的潜在机制仍然未知。蛋白质表达是应激反应和代谢状态亚致死差异的敏感指标;因此，跨季节的比较揭示了驱动生物体对气候因素反应的细胞过程。项目目标是1）更深入地了解推动关键饲料鱼类对温度的反应的机制，2）劳动力发展，为主要本科院校的教师和学生带来尖端的分子能力。通过比较强大的Semiahmoo Bay（SB）种群和遗传和行为上不同的Cherry Point（CP）鲱鱼种群，研究小组正在检测关键生理差异的生物标志物分子。研究人员正在使用蛋白质组学分析分析从1月到6月收集的SB和CP胚胎，然后开发针对感兴趣的肽的靶向测定，总脂质和相关环境变量（T，盐度，pH值）提供有意义的背景。 也正在饲养胚胎的队列，以从每个收集日期孵化，以比较与孵化幼虫的存活或形态差异相关的蛋白质生物标志物。该项目提供了第一个大规模的调查蛋白质存在于早期生命阶段的太平洋鲱鱼在不同的温度制度，推进我们的理解鲱鱼对环境条件的反应与全球变化和海洋/大气循环。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Pacific Herring represent a critical link in marine food webs along the West Coast of the United States, connecting the plankton they eat with larger predators (fish, sea birds, and marine mammals). Temperature strongly influences the development and success of herring. This investigation targets the underlying pathways that drive their temperature response by examining seasonal differences in protein expression. The outcome will be a better understanding of the processes most influenced by temperature, such as specific metabolic processes or stress responses. The project supports training for the investigator in new proteomics techniques and for undergraduate students at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution. Outreach includes engagement with local stakeholders and coastal indigenous communities. Societal benefits include a better understanding of population differences to inform conservation and recovery efforts for a culturally, economically, and ecologically important species.Pacific Herring are ecologically important forage fish; fluctuations in their biomass drive far reaching food web responses. Climate variability is suspected to be a major driver of population trends, but the underlying mechanisms driving physiological responses remain unknown. Protein expression is a sensitive indicator of sub-lethal differences in stress response and metabolic state; therefore, comparisons across seasons unveil the cellular processes driving organismal responses to climate factors. Project goals are 1) a deeper understanding of the mechanisms driving the response of a key forage fish species to temperature and 2) workforce development, bringing cutting-edge molecular capabilities to faculty and students at a primarily undergraduate institution. Through a comparison between the robust Semiahmoo Bay (SB) population and the genetically and behaviorally distinct, and much depleted, Cherry Point (CP) herring population, the research team is detecting biomarker molecules of key physiological differences. Investigators are profiling SB and CP embryos collected from January through June using proteomic analyses, then developing targeted assays for peptides of interest, with total lipids and relevant environmental variables (T, Salinity, pH) providing meaningful context. Cohorts of embryos are also being reared to hatch from each collection date for comparison of protein biomarkers associated with survival or morphometric differences in the hatched larvae. This project provides the first large-scale survey of proteins present in early life stage Pacific Herring under different temperature regimes, advancing our understanding of herring response to environmental conditions associated with global change and ocean/atmosphere cycles.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.