EAGER: Environmental nitrite is a nitric oxide donor that modulates fish olfactory function.

这个项目探索了一个关于硬骨鱼类嗅觉的新假设。在哺乳动物中，气味的检测和嗅觉信息的大脑整合可以通过一氧化氮介导，一氧化氮主要通过氧依赖（有氧）过程在大脑中产生。鱼类经常生活在缺氧的环境中，在这种环境中，一氧化氮的有氧生成受到抑制。因此，尚不清楚鱼类在低氧环境中是如何产生依赖一氧化氮的嗅觉的，而低氧环境在气候变暖中变得越来越普遍。该项目将研究金鱼如何在鼻子内摄取水生含氮化合物，以及即使在低氧条件下如何产生一氧化氮来控制神经元功能。这项研究的结果将适用于其他鱼类，包括鳟鱼等水产养殖物种，因此可以直接应用于鱼类养殖，并可能有助于为保护工作提供信息。该项目的综合教育组成部分的目标是提高得克萨斯州立大学（一所西班牙裔服务机构）西班牙裔和其他代表性不足的研究生的成功，特别注重培养科学交流写作技能，这些技能最终可以用来告知当地社区关于自然人群嗅觉的相关性。一氧化氮在嗅觉过程中的作用是复杂的，人们对其知之甚少。此外，人们对这种信号分子如何调节水生脊椎动物的嗅觉知之甚少。本研究将以金鱼为模型，测试环境亚硝酸盐是否通过硬骨鱼鼻上皮中的一种碳酸氯阴离子交换转运蛋白主动从水中吸收，并在那里积累，然后转运到中枢神经系统作为一氧化氮供体来控制神经元功能。该项目还将测试一氧化氮是否可以通过非氧化途径（通过血红素蛋白和钼酶）产生，从而确保即使在缺氧或缺氧条件下嗅觉功能。该项目被认为具有潜在的变革性，因为如果这些假设得到支持，该项目将建立一种检测嗅觉感官信息并将其传递到大脑的新机制，并为鱼类感官生物学领域开辟新的方向。从科学界代表性不足的群体中招募的一名博士后研究员和一名研究生实习生将参与这项研究，并且每年举办一次写作讲习班，以满足已确定的发展研究生科学交流技能的需要。该奖项还将增加该机构的研究资源。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project explores a novel hypothesis about the sense of smell (olfaction) in bony fishes. In mammals, detection of smells and brain integration of olfactory information can be mediated by nitric oxide that is produced in the brain mainly by oxygen-dependent (aerobic) processes. Fishes often live in oxygen-poor environments in which aerobic production of nitric oxide is inhibited. Thus, it is unknown how nitric oxide-dependent smell sensation occurs in fishes when in low-oxygen environments, conditions that are becoming more common in a warming climate. The project will investigate how goldfish uptake aquatic nitrogenous compounds within the nose, and how nitric oxide is generated to control neuronal function, even under low-oxygen conditions. The results of this research will be applicable to other fishes, including aquacultured species such as trout, and thus could have direct applications in fish farming and may help to inform conservation efforts. The goals of the project’s integrated education components are to enhance the success of Hispanic and other underrepresented graduate students at Texas State University (a Hispanic Serving Institution), focusing especially on building science communication writing skills, which can ultimately be used to inform the local community about the relevance of the sense of smell in natural populations.The role of nitric oxide in olfactory processes is complex and poorly understood. Moreover, little is known about how this signaling molecule modulates olfaction in aquatic vertebrates. This research will use goldfish as a model to test whether environmental nitrite is actively taken up from the water via a chloride-carbonate anion-exchange transporter protein in the nasal epithelium of teleost fishes, accumulated there, and then transported into the central nervous system to be used as a nitric oxide donor to control neuronal function. The project will also test whether nitric oxide can be produced by non-oxidative pathways (via heme proteins and molybdenum enzymes), thus ensuring olfactory function even in hypoxic or anoxic conditions. The project is considered to be potentially transformative because, if the hypotheses are supported, the project will establish a new mechanism to detect and transfer olfactory sensory information to the brain, and lead to new directions in the field of fish sensory biology. A post-doctoral fellow and a graduate student trainee, recruited from groups underrepresented in science, will be involved in the research, and an annual writing workshop will meet an identified need for development of graduate students’ scientific communication skills. The award will also add to the research resources at the institution.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.