Characterization of Solute Transport Processes in Fishes

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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.