Physiological and molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance in fish

我的研究项目旨在了解水生动物在不断变化的，通常是压力大的环境中生存所使用的分子和生理过程。 温度和氧气的每日和季节性波动对鱼类造成了特别的问题，因为它们的身体状况会随着环境而变化。 我提出的研究的性质是评估整个动物水平上对环境压力的主要反应，如新陈代谢和激素的变化，如何与压力诱导的基因和蛋白质变化相互作用，以促进压力耐受性。 我打算利用短干扰RNA（siRNA）这一强大的分子生物学技术，对鱼类血细胞进行“敲低”特定应激诱导基因的表达。 这将为鱼类生理学家提供一个尖端的研究工具，以研究许多蛋白质的功能意义。使用血液作为组织来评估压力是值得注意的，因为它提供了一种在野外对鱼类进行非终末取样的手段。随着全球气温上升，了解鱼类维持关键生物功能能力的分子和生理机制，将有助于就气候变化对水生种群和生态系统的影响作出知情预测。 鉴于加拿大和世界范围内鱼类资源的减少，这一见解具有重大的经济和科学意义。

My research program is targeted at understanding the molecular and physiological processes used by aquatic animals to survive in changing, often stressful environments. Daily and seasonal fluctuations in temperature and oxygen pose particular problems for fish because their body conditions change with the environment. The nature of my proposed research is to evaluate how primary reactions to environmental stress at the level of the whole animal, such as changes in metabolism and hormones, interact with stress-induced changes in genes and proteins to facilitate stress tolerance. I intend to use the powerful molecular biology technology of short interference RNA (siRNA) on fish blood cells to 'knock down' the expression of specific stress-induced genes. This will provide fish physiologists with a cutting edge research tool to study the functional significance of many proteins. The use of blood as a tissue to assess stress is noteworthy as it provides a means to non-terminally sample fish in the wild. As global temperatures increase, knowledge of the molecular and physiological mechanisms underpinning the capacity of fish to maintain key biological functions, will help to make informed predictions regarding the impact of climate change on aquatic populations and ecosystems. Given the decline of fish stocks in Canada and worldwide, this insight is of great economic as well as scientific interest.