Sveigjanlegt svipfar hjá hornsílum Mývatns - verkefni lokið
Fréttatilkynning verkefnisstjóra
The aim of this project was to study the gene expression underlying phenotypic variation in response to contrasting environmental conditions in threespine stickleback from the spatio-temporally varying system, Lake Mývatn.
How phenotypic variation can arise and be maintained is still not fully understood. Threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) have served as a model organism to study environmentally induced phenotypic variation and rapid changes in phenotypes within and across generations.
In a transgenerational rearing experiment, we found clear changes in gene expression in response to temperature, diet, sex and interactions thereof. Especially genes involved in metabolic and transmembrane transport were found to be differentially expressed. This study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms of phenotypic variation observed in the wild and thus, helps to further our understanding of how phenotypic variation can arise through differential gene expression.
Information on how the results will be applied:
The list of genes of interest obtained from this project will can be used to run qPCRs on the samples from the F2 generation. This would allow us to test for transgenerational effects in gene expression in threespine stickleback. Further, the collected data could be used for a future student project. Finally, the results obtained from this study can be an inspiration for other study organisms. Especially, the lipeb gene could be of interest, as many arctic organisms undergo periods of low energy intake, followed by periods of abundance.
A list of the project’s outputs:
This project produced a list of genes of interest that are connected to contrasting environmental
conditions and varying phenotypes. Furthermore, this project is part of my PhD project (partly
funded by a RANNIS grant of excellence) and will therefore, result in peer reviewed publications and a chapter in the final PhD thesis. Finally, the results will be presented at conferences, which will increase visibility of the Myvatn system on a national and international level.
References:
“BGI.” 2020. 2020. https://www.bgi.com/global/.
Kern, Pippa, Rebecca L. Cramp, and Craig E. Franklin. 2015. “Physiological Responses of Ectotherms
to Daily Temperature Variation.” The Journal of Experimental Biology 218 (Pt 19): 3068–76.
Kittilson, Jeffrey D., Katie M. Reindl, and Mark A. Sheridan. 2011. “Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus
Mykiss) Possess Two Hormone-Sensitive Lipase-Encoding MRNAs That Are Differentially
Expressed and Independently Regulated by Nutritional State.” Comparative Biochemistry and
Physiology. Part A, Molecular & Integrative Physiology 158 (1): 52–60.
Phillips, Joseph S., Árni Einarsson, Kasha Strickland, Anthony R. Ives, Bjarni K. Kristjánsson, and Katja Räsänen. 2023. “Demographic Basis of Spatially Structured Fluctuations in a Threespine
Stickleback Metapopulation.” The American Naturalist 201 (3): E41–55.
Strickland, Kasha, Katja Räsänen, Bjarni Kristofer Kristjánsson, Joseph S. Phillips, Arni Einarsson,
Ragna G. Snorradóttir, Mireia Bartrons, and Zophonías Oddur Jónsson. 2023. “GenomePhenotype-Environment Associations Identify Signatures of Selection in a Panmictic Population of Threespine Stickleback.” Molecular Ecology 32 (7): 1708–25.
Wootton, R. J. 1985. “A Functional Biology of Sticklebacks.” Science 228 (May): 574.
Heiti verkefnis: Sveigjanlegt svipfar hjá hornsílum Mývatns/Phenotypic
plasticity in Lake Mývatn threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
Verkefnisstjóri: Alessandra Barbara Deborah Schnider, Háskólanum á Hólum
Tegund styrks: Doktorsnemastyrkur
Styrktímabil: 2022
Fjárhæð styrks kr. 8.000.000
Tilvísunarnúmer Rannís: 228501
