Postdoctoral Fellowship: OPP-PRF: Identifying Central and Peripheral Thermosensors in Eurythermal and Stenothermal Arctic Fishes

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

The Arctic Ocean is warming at a rate up to seven times the global average, endangering and shifting key subsistence and commercial fisheries. Fish populations are stressed by warming and simultaneously by ocean acidification and oxidation. This study aims to characterize the evolution of proteins that integrate signals of warming, changing pH, and oxidation in the sensory systems of three species of Arctic and sub-Arctic fish: the Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida), saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis), and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Studying the evolution of these sensory mechanisms provides insight into the sensitivity and responses of fish to climate change. This work also has implications for understanding protein-induced pain, inflammation, and itch responses in humans. During the course of this research, two undergraduates from underrepresented groups in science will be mentored through a summer research program. A K-12 lesson plan will be developed that combines the insights from this project with Alaska Native science curricula and values and Next Generation Science Standards. A major goal of this work is to generate high-quality genomic and transcriptomic data across stenothermal and eurythermal Arctic fish species, but also across central thermosensory nervous tissue, peripheral thermosensory nervous tissue, non-thermosensory nervous tissue, and non-nervous somatic tissue. These data will be generated using a combination of 3rd (IsoSeq) and 2nd (RNASeq) generation sequencing technologies and be used to characterize transient receptor potential (TRP) channel sequences and expression patterns. TRP channel profiles will be compared using in silico tests of regulatory and structural evolution, including predicting protein structure using AlphaFold2. These profiles will be compared between species, tissues, and to stenothermal Antarctic fishes to investigate central and peripheral mechanisms of temperature sensation in fishes and convergent adaptation to cold. This work is the first investigation into the evolution of molecular thermosensor proteins in any Arctic species and the first to target mechanisms of thermosensation in the central nervous system of fishes. This project explores physiological mechanisms of climate adaptation in key sentinel species and expands the sequencing resources of the polar science community by generating the first long-read genome for Arctic cod, Boreogadus saida. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.