Control of transport by epithelia

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We study mechanisms that animals use to regulate ion and water transport across epithelia. The main model system we use is a hardy teleost fish that frequents estuaries of N. America and is robust to environmental extremes (salinity, temperature, low oxygen, pollution), the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), an important physiological and genomic model species and important as a bioindicator species. The models of the gill osmoregulatory function we use are flat epithelia rich in salt transporting ionocytes, the opercular epithelium in adults and the yolk sac epithelium of embryos. The research focuses on revealing regulatory proteins (kinases and phosphatases) that modulate the transport proteins directly or via kinase cascades. Aim 1. We will discover the regulatory components of the transport complexes that control the anion channel Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) and the cotransporters Na,K,2Cl cotransporter (NKCC1) and NaCl cotransporter (NCC) which include many kinases as well as a calcium-dependent inhibitory pathway. These pathways are activated by osmotic stimuli, neurotransmitters and hormones. The overarching hypothesis is that membrane transport proteins have multiple regulatory components in apparently redundant pathways that regulate ion transport, but in hardy animals such as Fundulus and less hardy tropical fish (Nile tilapia,Oreochromis nilotica), the extreme variation in the environment determines which pathways are best-suited for operation in extreme environments. Aim 2. We will overlay the above with cellular dynamics of this highly regulated transport system using simple salinity changes and immunocytochemistry of transporter proteins to generate cellular succession vs. remodeling of existing ionocytes and their various phenotypic variations in freshwater, seawater and hypersaline conditions. Aim 3. We will use the yolk sac membrane of Fundulus embryos (also salt hardy and rich in ionocytes) to test regulatory pathways using short interfering mRNA (siRNA) injection to block specific kinase/phosphatase genes (confirmed by quantitative PCR) in the yolk sac and see how transport regulation (hypotonic, hypertonic shock, adrenergic agonists) are selectively disrupted to identify the critical components of the regulatory pathways. Importance: Understanding of ion transport and its regulation also informs fisheries and aquaculture and advances comparative physiology. The research will reveal new relationships among regulatory kinases controlling ion transport proteins also associated with disease, particularly CFTR (responsible for cystic fibrosis), NKCC (implicated in pseudohypoaldosteronism) and NCC (involved in Gitelman's syndrome). The work will contribute 19 HQP (BSc and MSc) to Canadian research.