The Role of the Epigenetic Mechanism, DNA Methylation, in the Tolerance and Resistance of Antarctic Pteropods to Ocean Acidification and Warming

表观遗传机制 DNA 甲基化在南极翼足类动物对海洋酸化和变暖的耐受和抵抗中的作用

• 批准号: 2053726
• 负责人: Gretchen Hofmann
• 金额: $ 30.85万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2053726&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Epigenetic; Mechanism; DNA; Methylation

Part 1: Non-technical description: With support from the Office of Polar Programs, this project will evaluate how an important part of the food web in the coastal ocean of Antarctica will respond to climate change. The focal study organism in the plankton is a shelled mollusk, the Antarctic pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica, an Southern Ocean organism that this known to respond to climate driven changes in ocean acidification and ocean warming. Ocean acidification, the lowering of ocean pH via the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the surface of the ocean, is a change in the ocean that is expected to cross deleterious thresholds of pH within decades. This study will improve understanding of how pteropods will respond, which will provide insight into predicting the resilience of the Antarctic marine ecosystem during future changes, one of the planet’s last marine wildernesses. The project will use tools of molecular biology to examine specifically how gene expression is modulated in the pteropods, and further, how the changes and regulation of genes act to resist the stress of low pH and high temperature. In addition, this project supports the training of Ph.D. graduate students and advances the goal of inclusive excellence in STEM and in marine sciences, in particular. The students involved in this project are from groups traditionally under-represented in marine science including first-generation college students. Overall, the project contributes to the development of the U.S. work force and contributes to diversity and inclusive excellence in the geosciences.Part 2: Technical description: The overarching goal of this project is to investigate the molecular response of the Antarctic thecosome pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica to ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming. The project will investigate changes in the epigenome of juvenile L. h. antarctica, by assessing the dynamics of DNA methylation in response to three scenarios of environmental conditions that were simulated in laboratory mesocosm CO2 experiments: (1) present-day pCO2 conditions for summer and winter, (2) future ocean acidification expected within 10-15 years, and (3) a multiple stressor experiment to investigate synergistic interaction of OA and high temperature stress. Recent lab-based mesocosm experiment research showed significant changes in the dynamics of global DNA methylation in the pteropod genome, along with variation in gene expression in response to abiotic changes. Thus, it is clear that juvenile L. h. antarctica are capable of mounting a substantial epigenetic response to ocean acidification. However, it is not known how DNA methylation, as an epigenetic process, is modulating changes in the transcriptome. In order to address this gap in the epigenetic knowledge regarding pteropods, the project will use next-generation sequencing approaches (e.g., RNA sequencing and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing) to integrate changes in methylation status with changes in gene expression in juvenile pteropods. Overall, this investigation is an important step in exploring environmental transcriptomics and phenotypic plasticity of an ecologically important member of Southern Ocean macrozoooplankton in response to anthropogenic 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.

第1部分：非技术描述：在极地计划办公室的支持下，该项目将评估南极沿海海洋中食品网的重要部分如何应对气候变化。浮游生物中的焦点研究组织是一个被壳的软体动物，南极翼足，limacina helicina antarctica，这是一种南方海洋​​生物，众所周知，这对海洋酸化和海洋变暖的气候变化做出了反应。海洋酸化是通过大气二氧化碳在海洋表面的荒谬的降低海洋pH的降低，是海洋的一种变化，预计几十年来将越过pH值的有害阈值。这项研究将提高人们对翼足的反应方式的理解，这将为预测未来变化期间南极海洋生态系统的弹性提供见解，这是地球上最后一个海洋荒野之一。该项目将使用分子生物学工具来特别检查翼足中基因表达的调节方式，并进一步研究基因的变化和调节如何作用以抵抗低pH和高温的应力。此外，该项目支持博士学位的培训。研究生，尤其是在STEM和海洋科学领域的卓越卓越的目标。参与该项目的学生来自传统上在包括第一代大学生在内的海洋科学中代表不足的团体。总体而言，该项目有助于美国劳动力的发展，并有助于地球科学中的多样性和包容性卓越。第2部分：技术描述：该项目的总体目标是调查南极thecosom pteropod，limacina helicina helicina helicina helicina antaricina antaricina antarcita to acke Acidication（OA）和避难所的分子反应。该项目将调查少年L. H的表观基因组的变化。南极，通过评估DNA甲基化的动力学，应对在实验室中co2实验中模拟的三种环境条件的情况，这是夏季和冬季的当前PCO2条件：（2）预期的未来海洋酸化预期在10 - 15年内，以及（3）多重压力实验，以调查OA和高温的多重压力实验。最近的基于实验室的中验实验研究表明，翼龙基因组中全球DNA甲基化动力学的显着变化，以及对非生物变化的响应基因表达的变化。那很明显少年L. H。南极能够安装对海洋酸化的大量表观遗传反应。然而，尚不清楚DNA甲基化是一种表观遗传过程，正在调节转录组的变化。为了解决有关翼足的表观遗传学知识中的这一差距，该项目将使用下一代测序方法（例如，RNA测序和减少代表性硫酸盐测序）将甲基化状态的变化与少年pteropods中基因表达的变化整合在一起。总体而言，这项投资是探索环境转录组学和表型可塑性的重要一步，这是对人为气候变化的反应，这是南大洋巨星型巨星的生态学成员。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子功能和广泛的影响来评估的。