Mechanisms and evolution of hypoxia tolerance

环境缺氧是许多水生生态系统中常见的、自然发生的现象。有鉴于此，在所有脊椎动物中，鱼拥有最多的耐缺氧物种可能就不足为奇了。显然，低氧在形成提高低氧存活率的性状进化中发挥了重要作用。然而，尽管经过了几十年的研究，我们仍然没有完全了解解释低氧耐受性变化的因素。为了解决这一知识差距，我的研究计划使用在鱼类群体中看到的耐低氧能力的自然变化来确定形成耐低氧能力的重要分子、细胞和生化机制。此外，我们使用普通花园实验和成年和发育中的胚胎的低氧暴露相结合的方法，梳理出鱼类物种之间的低氧耐受性变化是由于自然选择和适应，还是由于生物一生中先前的低氧暴露。这种性质的研究很重要，因为由于与人类有关的活动，水生缺氧的流行率正在上升，因此，鱼类和其他水生生物的环境正在经历前所未有的波动，考验着它们的耐受极限。了解设定物种耐缺氧极限的因素是预测哪些动物因环境变化而面临最大风险的关键第一步。此外，了解动物体内缺氧的基本生物学，并进化出存活机制，无疑将有助于阐明生物医学研究的候选系统。这笔助学金将允许我培训至少4名博士、5名硕士和12名理科学士。以最先进的分析和概念方法理解动物如何与环境互动的学生。

Environmental hypoxia is a common, naturally occurring phenomenon in many aquatic ecosystems. In light of this, it is perhaps not surprising that among all vertebrates, fish boast the largest number of hypoxia tolerant species. Hypoxia has clearly played an important role in shaping the evolution of traits to enhance hypoxia survival. Despite several decades of study however, we still do not have a complete understanding of the factors that explain variation in hypoxia tolerance. To address this knowledge gap, my research program uses the natural variation in hypoxia tolerance seen among groups of fish to determine the important molecular, cellular, and biochemical mechanisms that underlie hypoxia tolerance. In addition, we use a combination of common garden experiments and hypoxia exposures, in adults and developing embryos, to tease out whether variation in hypoxia tolerance among fish species is due to natural selection and adaptation or due to previous hypoxia exposure during the organism's lifetime. Research of this nature is important because the prevalence of aquatic hypoxia is on the rise due to human-related activities, and as such, fishes and other aquatic organisms are now experiencing unprecedented fluctuations in their environment that are testing their tolerance limits. Understanding the factors that set a species' tolerance limits to hypoxia is an essential first step in predicting which animals are most a risk due to a changing environment. Furthermore, understanding the basic biology of hypoxia in animals that have evolved mechanism to survive it will undoubtedly shed light on candidate systems for biomedical research. This grant will allow me to train at least 4 Ph.D., 5 M.Sc., and 12 B.Sc. students in the most advanced analytical and conceptual approaches for understanding how animals interact with their environment.