HPLC system to study the ecology and evolution of vertebrate pigments

负责产生红色、橙子和黄色的类胡萝卜素色素作为动物着色剂几乎无处不在。作为有效的抗氧化剂，类胡萝卜素也被认为在促进人类和其他动物的免疫健康方面发挥重要作用。这些膳食色素，免疫功能和免疫功能之间的复杂相互作用，促进了类胡萝卜素为基础的信号转导的发展作为一个模型系统，用于研究动物的明亮的颜色的演变。此外，类胡萝卜素沉积提供了饮食和健康之间的直接联系，提供了机会，调查饮食中的生态差异如何影响类胡萝卜素的分配，以维护，繁殖或繁殖，以及不同的分配策略的健身后果。要求NSERC提供的支持将为高效液相色谱（HPLC）系统提供资金。这样的系统对于鉴定和定量食物、血浆、组织、蛋和观赏性状中的类胡萝卜素是必不可少的。所要求的HPLC系统将促进安大略4个活跃研究实验室的合作研究，并将有助于对几名研究生、本科生和技术人员进行专业培训。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最前沿。我们各自的研究计划将调查类胡萝卜素沉积在鸟类和鱼类的多种功能。我们的研究将为饮食，免疫功能和免疫之间的关系提供关键的见解，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的健康益处，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.