Mitochondrial plasticity: a coping strategy in a warming world?

我们的世界在全球范围内迅速变化，一些生物生活在与它们进化时截然不同的环境中。气候变化预计将导致平均陆地和水域温度上升，但也会导致更频繁的温度波动。了解生物体如何应对这些前所未有的环境变化，以及它们需要适应不断变化的条件所需的时间尺度，是生物学研究的关键优先事项。对于体温过高的动物(即除哺乳动物和鸟类以外的所有动物)，体温升高会导致能量储备更快地耗尽，除非/直到它们能够通过调节线粒体的功能来下调代谢。然而，线粒体功能的灵活性范围和所需时间尚不清楚，因此我们无法知道温度波动对动物的真实成本，从而无法知道它们应对气候变化的能力。我将使用尖端的实验室方法来提供关于这个主题的第一批信息，测试现实环境扰动对广泛分布的硬骨鱼线粒体功能的影响。我的目标是：1)确定线粒体功能在多长时间内受到调节，以应对不断变化的温度条件；2)测试线粒体适应温度波动的能力是否与年龄相关的下降，从而使年长的动物更容易受到热浪的影响；3)确定年长的母亲是否将适应环境温度波动的能力降低的线粒体遗传给后代。这个极具原创性和跨学科的项目将借鉴和扩展我在生态学和生态生理学方面工作的研究记录和优势，以及主持人Neil Metcalfe教授(鱼类生态学、线粒体新陈代谢)和Pat Monaghan教授(衰老和衰老的代际转移)的研究记录和优势，以实现我未来的研究生涯目标。

Our world is changing rapidly, on a global scale, and some organisms are inhabiting environments that differ greatly from those in which they evolved. Climate change is predicted to result in increases in average land and water temperatures, but also more frequent temperature fluctuations. Understanding how organisms cope with these unprecedented environmental changes, as well as the timescale that they need to adjust to changing conditions, is a key priority of biological research. For ectothermic animals (i.e. all except mammals and birds), rising body temperatures cause faster depletion of energy reserves unless/until they can down-regulatemetabolism through adjusting the functioning of their mitochondria. However, the scope for flexibility in mitochondrial function, and the time required, are unknown - so we cannot know the true costs to animals of temperature fluctuations and hence their capacity to cope with climate change. I will employ cutting-edge laboratory methods to provide the first information on this topic, testing the effect of realistic environmental perturbations on mitochondrial function in a widely distributed teleost fish. My Objectives are to: 1) Identify the timescales over which mitochondrial function is regulated in response to changing thermal conditions; 2) Test for an age-related decline in the capacity of mitochondria to adjust to temperature fluctuations, so that older animals are more vulnerable to heat waves; 3) Determine whether older mothers pass on mitochondria with a reduced capacity to adjust to fluctuations in environmental temperature to their offspring. This highly original and interdisciplinary project will draw from, and expand upon, the combined research track-records and strengths of my work in ecology and ecophysiology, with that of hosts Prof. Neil Metcalfe (fish ecology, mitochondrial metabolism) and Prof. Pat Monaghan (senescence and intergenerational transfer of ageing) to achieve my future research career goals.