Excellence in Research - Genomic Inferences of Adaptation in an Antarctic Top predator: the leopard seal (EiR-GIANT)

Hampton University, Hampton VA

Investigators

Abstract

Marine mammals are iconic representatives of global marine biodiversity that provide exceptional examples of mammalian adaptations to extreme habitats worldwide. These adaptations have captured the human imagination for centuries and include specialized skin tissues, limb morphology, sound production, oxygen storage and feeding strategies. Antarctic ice seals have remarkable abilities to survive in extremely cold waters, and understanding how these adaptations evolved will allow better predictions of their response to climate change. Importantly, studying animal adaptations can lead to invaluable unforeseen discoveries in science and technology (e.g., engineering, medicine, oceanography). One of the objectives of this work is to raise public awareness of the far-reaching effects of climate change. The results of this project will be disseminated by social media and broadcasting a series of professionally produced videos that explain the value of genomic approaches to examine the complexity of polar ecosystems and their role in maintaining global biodiversity. This project will also provide training to young scientists in the growing field of genomics and grow the national talent pool in STEM. Leopard seals and Weddell seals are sister Antarctic ice seal species that diverged roughly four million years ago. They occupy the same environment but have key behavioral and physiological differences, e.g., in deep diving and diet. This project leverages the recent shared ancestry of Weddell and Leopard seals to investigate the relationship between phenotypic and genomic/epigenomic diversity in these species. Specifically, the goals of this research are to (1) obtain a complete genome assembly and annotation of the leopard seal genome (the Weddell seal genome is already available); (2) conduct a comparative genomic analysis of Leopard and Weddell seals to detect differences in the expansion and/or contraction of gene families, positively selected and rapidly evolving genes between the two species, with a focus on deep diving phenotypes; and 3) characterize microRNAs in Antarctic pinniped species to identify adaptive differences that match habitat specializations. This approach, using tandem genomic and epigenomic data sets, provides a significant contribution to our understanding of polar mammal adaptations and timely predictive data on their potential for adapting to climate change. 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.