Characterization of Solute Transport Processes in Fishes

本研究将探讨离子、酸碱和溶质转运体的功能演变及其在帮助鱼类应对极端环境中的独特作用。我将研究各种耐酸和不耐酸的淡水鱼物种。我将研究使某些淡水鱼能够在极低离子浓度和低ph值的水域中生存的分子机制。在海洋环境中，我将研究它们在离子、酸碱、以及溶质转运体，这些转运体使机会主义腐尸太平洋盲鳗能够在腐尸内的腐烂环境中生存。我们将研究盲鳗体内独特的应激类固醇特征如何与盲鳗撞击时血浆中独特的离子一致性策略相关联，并阐明盲鳗如何控制它们的离子和酸碱调节。本研究探索了溶质转运体进化的基本性质，并将这些特征整合到当前脊椎动物进化的进化理论中。这项研究的结果将引起进化科学家、比较生理学家、渔业管理者和生物医学科学家的强烈兴趣。

This research will investigate the functional evolution of ion, acid-base, and solute transporters and their unique roles in helping fish to cope with extreme environments. I will study a variety of acid-tolerant and acid-intolerant freshwater fish species will be undertaken to investigate the molecular mechanisms responsible for allowing certain freshwater fish to occupy waters with very low ion concentrations and low pH. In marine environments, the research will examine the unique adaptations in ion, acid-base, and solute transporters that enable the opportunistic rotting carcass scavenging Pacific hagfish possess to survive in a putrefying environment inside these carcasses. We will examine how the unique stress steroid profiles in hagfish may be linked to the unique strategy of ionoconforming in the plasma of  hagfish impact and shed light on how hagfish can controls their ion and acid base regulation. This research explores the fundamental nature of the evolution of solute transporter and will integrate these traits into the current evolutionary theories of vertebrate evolution. The results of this research will be of intense interest to evolutionary scientists, comparative physiologists, fisheries managers, and biomedical scientists.