Award Abstract #0723771
Functional Genomics of Physiological Plasticity

NSF Org:	EF Emerging Frontiers
Initial Amendment Date:	September 1, 2007
Latest Amendment Date:	September 1, 2007
Award Number:	0723771
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Mary E. Chamberlin EF Emerging Frontiers BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2007
Expires:	August 31, 2010 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$619351
Investigator(s):	Andrew Whitehead andreww@lsu.edu (Principal Investigator) Fernando Galvez (Co-Principal Investigator) Jennifer Roach (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Louisiana State University & Agricultural and Mechanical College 202 Himes Hall Baton Rouge, LA 70803 225/578-2760
NSF Program(s):	ENVIRONMENTAL GENOMICS
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	BIOT,9150,9104,1693
Program Element Code(s):	1693

ABSTRACT

In nature organisms encounter a wide variety of environmental stressors, such as temperature, or oxygen availability, or pollutants. Organisms use diverse strategies to cope and compensate for the impact of these stressors, and some organisms are better able to compensate than others. Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of organisms with the same genetic makeup to have different characteristics (phenotypes) under different environmental conditions. Individuals that can tolerate wider environmental extremes are considered to be more phenotypically plastic than organisms that have more narrow tolerance ranges. This project examines fundamental mechanisms that enable plasticity, and will attempt to determine the characteristics of plastic organisms compared to sensitive organisms, which enables their tolerance of wide range of environments. Gene expression (the turning on and off of genes) is a fundamental level at which organisms respond to changes in the environment, thus species-specific differences in gene expression may be important for explaining why some species are more plastic than others. Because compensation for environmental salinity stress is essential for all aquatic organisms, this project will focus on gene expression responses and physiological responses to salinity challenges within and among species of the killifish, Fundulus. These fish provide a powerful comparative system for addressing these questions as populations and species of Fundulus vary in their ability to compensate for salinity stress. Some species live exclusively in freshwater have little tolerance for salt (low plasticity), others live exclusively in marine environments and cannot tolerate fresh water (low plasticity), and yet others live in estuaries and can tolerate salinities across the entire continuum from freshwater to four-times the strength of seawater (high plasticity). The comparative nature of this study design will allow the use of evolutionary tools to distinguish gene expression differences that have little physiological relevance from those that appear functionally related to physiological compensation and plasticity. Ultimately, these studies may yield insight into why some organisms can tolerate dynamic environments, and help explain why some species are more likely to survive rapid environmental change than others.

This project will include the training of graduate and undergraduate students in modern genomic tools. Data from experiments will be used as a teaching device for a new graduate course entitled Ecological Genomics. Hands-on training will enhance student learning and prepare young investigators to take advantage of genomic tools and approaches for their own research. This project will promote interdisciplinary training for graduate and undergraduate students and promote participation of groups under-represented in science.

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