Project description:To determine what can the transcriptome tell us about populations of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus. Keywords: health assessment A total of 151 individuals were sampled from 4 different geographic location in U.S. waters between June of 2003 and June of 2006. Of the 151 dolphins, 59 were from Charleston, 35 from Indian River Lagoon, FL, 32 from Sarasota Bay, FL and 25 from St. Josephs Bay FL. Total RNA extracted from blood leukocytes of wild dolphins was analyzed and different sets of genes were used as classifiers in a machine learning approach, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN).
Project description:Goal: To determine the effects of capture-release events in wild dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Methods: An analysis of the Peripheral Blood Leukocyte (PBL) transcriptome was conducted on a group of 20 animals. The samples were collected in 2 different locations along the US east coast (Charleston, SC; Indian River Lagoon, FL) and 2 blood samples were collected for each dolphin 1) immediately after the capture event (*pre*) and 2) just before the animal was released (*post*). In between *pre* and *post* blood collections (30-40 minutes) additional samples were collected from the animals for physiological, chemical and biochemical analysis. RNA extracted from *pre* and *post* blood samples was used for micorarray hybridizations and transcriptome analysis using a species-specific PBL cDNA microarray (Mancia *et al*., 2007). Keywords: blood cells (PBL)
2007-05-03 | GSE7691 | GEO
Project description:Indian River Lagoon Sediment Prokaryotic Communities Survey
Project description:Tropical lagoon-inhabiting organisms live in highly irradiated ecosystems and are particularly susceptible to thermal stress resulting from climate change. However, despite living close to their thermal maxima, stress response mechanisms found in these organisms are poorly understood. We used a novel physiological-proteomic approach for sponges to describe the stress response mechanisms of the lagoon-inhabiting sponge Amphimedon navalis, when exposed to elevated seawater temperatures of +2 oC and +4 oC relative to a 26 oC ambient temperature for four weeks. After four weeks of thermal exposure, the buoyant weight of the sponge experienced a significant decline, while its pumping rates and oxygen consumption rates significantly increased. Proteome dynamics revealed 50 differentially abundant proteins in sponges exposed to elevated temperature, suggesting that shifts in the sponge proteome were potential drivers of physiological dysfunction. Thermal stress promoted an increase in detoxification proteins, such as catalase and glutathione-S-transferase, suggesting that an excess of reactive oxygen species in sponge cells were likely responsible for the significant increase in oxygen consumption. Elevated temperature also disrupted cellular growth and cell proliferation, promoting the loss of sponge biomass, and the high abundance of multiple alpha-tubulin chain proteins also indicated an increase in cytoskeletal activities within sponge cells, which may have induced the increase in sponge pumping rate. Our results show that sustained thermal exposure in susceptible lagoonal sponges may induce significant disruption of cellular homeostasis leading to physiological dysfunction, and that a combined physiological-proteomic approach may provide new insights into physiological functions and cellular processes occurring in sponges.