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

太平洋鲱鱼代表着美国西海岸海洋食物网中的关键环节，将它们所吃的浮游生物与更大的捕食者(鱼、海鸟和海洋哺乳动物)联系起来。温度对鲱鱼的发育和成功有很大的影响。这项研究通过检测蛋白质表达的季节性差异，瞄准了驱动它们温度反应的潜在途径。其结果将是更好地理解受温度影响最大的过程，如特定的代谢过程或压力反应。该项目支持对研究人员进行新的蛋白质组学技术方面的培训，以及对主要是本科院校的本科生进行培训。外联活动包括与当地利益攸关方和沿海土著社区的接触。社会利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；它们生物量的波动推动深远的食物链反应。气候变异性被怀疑是人口趋势的主要驱动因素，但驱动生理反应的潜在机制仍不清楚。蛋白质表达是压力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推动生物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用鱼类物种对温度的反应的机制，以及2)劳动力发展，为以本科为主的学院的教职员工和学生带来尖端的分子能力。通过将健壮的Semiahmoo Bay(SB)种群与在遗传和行为上截然不同且严重耗尽的樱桃点(CP)鲱鱼种群进行比较，研究小组正在检测关键生理差异的生物标记分子。研究人员正在使用蛋白质组学分析来分析从1月到6月收集的SB和CP胚胎，然后开发有针对性的多肽分析方法，总脂质和相关的环境变量(T、盐度、pH)提供有意义的背景。从每个采集日开始孵化的胚胎队列也被培育出来，用于比较与孵化的幼虫的存活或形态差异相关的蛋白质生物标志物。该项目首次对不同温度条件下的早期太平洋鲱鱼蛋白质进行了大规模调查，促进了我们对鲱鱼对与全球变化和海洋/大气循环相关的环境条件的反应的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.