Imprinting to new sensory cues using ancient physiology in a model fish

嗅觉是一种宝贵的途径，动物通过它收集外部化学信息来做出决定。气味对于觅食、躲避捕食者和污染物、迁徙和交配至关重要。我的研究表明，人类来源的化学物质和废水的多样性唤起了鱼类的嗅觉反应。我希望通过这项研究解决的核心问题是，当暴露于源自人类的化学物质时，古代机器（即进化产生的蛋白质和转导机器）是如何发挥作用的？******人类活动导致多种化学物质释放到水圈中，但我们对这对鱼类行为的影响知之甚少。我们知道，我们的一些输入损害了信息的使用或收集，但我们也知道，我们的一些化学物质和流出物似乎起到了气味的作用。拟议的研究将在人类来源的化学物质的背景下产生关于鱼类嗅觉和行为之间关系的知识。本提案涉及两个主要目标：1)将行为和生理嗅觉反应与人类来源的气味联系起来；2)确定这些反应被激发或受损的途径。******到目前为止，还没有研究调查鱼类是否会对来自人类的污染物产生影响。我们将使用原油的水溶性馏分以及油砂工艺影响的水来帮助回答这个问题。关于嗅觉在新气味印记中的作用，有相互矛盾的数据；我们计划用两种方法来证实（或反驳）嗅觉在印迹中的作用。首先，我们将确定嗅觉组织是否对我们的气味套件有反应。我们将使用CaMPARI技术来识别嗅觉和脑组织中最近活跃的嗅觉神经元。我们还将使用转基因鱼，当热休克作为胚胎时，表达显性阴性甲状腺激素受体。一旦我们确定了可能的印记化学物质，我们将使用印记敲除鱼进行印记实验。***为了确定嗅觉反应被激发或阻断的途径，我们将使用转录组测序来鉴定嗅觉受体基因表达，并评估与信号通路相关的基因是否在对气味的反应中上调。我们的期望是，我们将确定特定的嗅觉受体的基因和/或其相关的途径已经改变了表达。总的来说，这项研究将有助于阐明鱼类如何感知和响应人类来源的现代刺激。

The olfactory sense is an invaluable route by which animals gather external chemical information to make decisions. Odorants are central to feeding, avoiding predators and contaminants, migration and mating. My research has shown that a diversity of human-sourced chemicals and effluents evoke olfactory responses in fishes. The central question I aim to address with this proposed research is how does ancient machinery', i.e. evolutionarily-produced proteins and transduction machinery, function when exposed to chemicals of human origin?******Human activities lead to the release of a huge diversity of chemicals into the hydrosphere, but we have little understanding of what this does to fish behaviour. We know that some of our inputs impair the use or gathering of information, but we also know that some of our chemicals and effluents appear to act as odorants. The proposed research will generate knowledge about the relationship between fish olfaction and behavior in the context of human-sourced chemicals. There are two main objectives addressed in this proposal: 1) to link behavioural and physiological olfactory responses to human-sourced odourants'; and 2) to identify the pathways by which these responses are evoked or impaired.******No studies to date have examined whether fish can imprint to human-sourced pollutants. We will use water-soluble fractions of crude oil as well as oil-sands process-affected water to help answer this question. There is conflicting data on the role of olfaction in imprinting to novel odorants; we plan to use two approaches to confirm (or refute) the role of olfaction in imprinting. First, we will identify whether olfactory tissue is responsive to our suite of odorants. We will use CaMPARI technology to identify recently active olfactory neurons in olfactory and brain tissue. We will also use transgenic fish that when given heat-shock as embryos, express a dominant negative thyroid hormone receptor. Once we identify putative imprinting chemicals, we will carryout the imprinting experiments using imprinting knock-out fish.***To identify the pathways by which olfactory responses are evoked or blocked, we will employ transcriptome sequencing to identify olfactory receptor gene expression and those associated with signaling pathways are assess whether they are upregulated in response to odorants. Our expectation is that we will identify genes of specific olfactory receptors and/or their associated pathways that have altered expression. Overall, this research will help elucidate how fish sense and respond to human-sourced modern' stimuli.