HPLC system to study the ecology and evolution of vertebrate pigments

类胡萝卜素是产生红色、橙色和黄色的色素，作为动物着色剂几乎无处不在。作为有效的抗氧化剂，类胡萝卜素在促进人类和其他动物的免疫健康方面也发挥着重要作用。这些膳食色素、免疫功能和纹饰之间的复杂相互作用促进了类胡萝卜素信号的发展，作为研究动物鲜艳颜色进化的模型系统。此外，类胡萝卜素沉积提供了饮食与健康之间的直接联系，为研究饮食中的生态差异如何影响类胡萝卜素在维持、装饰或繁殖方面的分配，以及不同分配策略对健康的影响提供了机会。NSERC要求的支持将资助一个高效液相色谱（HPLC）系统。这种系统对于识别和定量食品、血浆、组织、鸡蛋和观赏性状中的类胡萝卜素是必不可少的。所要求的高效液相色谱系统将促进安大略省4个活跃的研究实验室之间的合作研究，并将有助于几名研究生、本科生和技术人员的专业培训。此外，所要求的基础设施将使加拿大的研究处于这一令人兴奋的研究领域的前沿。我们各自的研究项目将研究类胡萝卜素沉积在鸟类和鱼类中的多种功能。我们的研究将为饮食、免疫功能和纹饰之间的关系提供关键见解，并将为类胡萝卜素信号系统的进化提供新的线索。此外，通过阐明类胡萝卜素对健康的益处，我们的发现将对包括人类在内的多种脊椎动物类群产生广泛的影响。

Carotenoid pigments, which are responsible for producing red, orange, and yellow colours, are nearly ubiquitous as animal colorants. As potent antioxidants, carotenoids are also known to play an important role in promoting immune health in humans and other animals. The complex interaction between these dietary pigments, immune function, and ornamentation has contributed to the development of carotenoid-based signaling as a model system for studying the evolution of bright coloration in animals. In addition, carotenoid deposition provides a direct link between diet and health, presenting opportunities to investigate how ecological differences in diet influence the allocation of carotenoids to maintenance, ornamentation, or reproduction, and the fitness consequences of different allocation strategies. The support requested from NSERC will fund a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) system. Such a system is essential for identifying and quantifying carotenoids in food items, plasma, tissues, eggs, and ornamental traits. The requested HPLC system will foster collaborative research across 4 active research laboratories in Ontario and will contribute to the specialized training of several graduate students, undergraduate students, and technicians. In addition, the requested infrastructure will place Canadian researches at the forefront of this exciting field of research. Our respective research programs will investigate multiple functions of carotenoid deposition in birds and fishes. Our investigations will provide key insights into the relationship between diet, immune function, and ornamentation and will shed new light on the evolution of carotenoid signaling systems. In addition, by elucidating the health benefits of carotenoids, our findings will have broad implications for a diversity of vertebrate taxa, including humans.