NCCOS Project Explorer (NPE)

ARC: Morphological, Physiological, Genomic, and Proteomic Responses to Environmental Stressors in Small Fish Models(2010)

Project Description:
The Aquatic Research Consortium (ARC) are nine universities who have come together to form a consortium to develop practical bioindicators to monitor estuary health. The goal of the ARC is to develop stressor-specific diagnostic tools which indicate initial ecological change due to decreased water quality. Such indicators are of vital importance for effective management of ecological systems because they will allow proactive rather than reactive strategies for restoring ecosystem health. The indicators will be critical for rapidly evaluating the success of environmental remediation efforts. The Aquatic Research Consortium (ARC) Phase 3. Morphological, Physiological, Genomic, and Proteomic Responses to Environmental Stressors in Small Fish Models: The overall goal of the ARC is to develop and apply state of the art molecular tools to solving problems involving aquatic toxins and stressors including their effects on organisms, ecosystems, and human populations. The principal laboratory models are all small fish and shellfish species and include (1) the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus), frequently used by the Environmental Protection Agency to establish environmental regulations, (2) the grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio, an invertebrate estuarine species used for both toxicological and ecological studies(3) the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), an emerging biomedical model and (4) a system of platyfish/swordtail (Xiphophorus) hybrids for which the genetics are better known than perhaps for any other fish species. Many estuarines suffer from chemical contamination and nutrient-overload due to rapidly increasing human coastal populations, urbanization, industrial effluents, and agricultural run-ff. The detrimential effects of nutrient-stimulated hypoxia and contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) upon aquatic systems has been well-documented. Therefore, studies elucidating "biomarker" responses of estuarine organisms to both hypoxia and PAHs are important for ecological risk assessment by allowing for more accurate and proactive decisions to be made regarding resource management. In addition to affecting estuarine ecosystem health, hypoxia (i.e., hypoxic-normoxic transitions such as ischemia reperfusion) and PAHs (i.e., carcinogens) also affect human health. Thus, the overall objective of the proposed research is to investigate the effects of hypoxia, PAHs, and hypoxia/PAH combinations in small fish models in order to increase our understanding of their environmental impacts and to provide greater insight into their mechanisms of action. The FY 2005 research was the third phase of Aquatic Research Consortium funding, and will entail a collaborative and integrative effort between scientists at Texas State University and the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

Expected Outcome:
The main outcome of the ARC is to develop the next generation of molecular indicators, based on a genomics and proteomics approach, to detect environmental stress responses in fish, determine population differences in stress responses and link these indicators in individuals to responses at the population level. Chronic stressors can cause cumulative effects that result in reduced fitness, and population level. By the time such effects are observed, conditions may have deteriorated to levels that are difficult or expensive to remedy.