Research

Acclimation and adaptation

Animals across the tree-of-life selectively associate with microbes that aid in their ability to acclimate to the environment and maintain some of these partnerships across generations to enhance their adaptive potential. One of theme of my research is to determine how microbial symbioses integrate into the framework of phenotypic plasticity. This theme uses ambient oceanographic conditions as well as geologic hot spots as analogous systems for future ocean conditions. This theme seeks to determines the patterns of microbial association and the mechanisms of these partnerships.

Developmental evolution

Microbes that manipulate animal reproduction are widespread on land. Relatives of these manipulators are increasingly found in the ocean, but uniquely with invertebrate taxa that recently underwent a transition between major developmental modes (i.e., from planktotrophy to lecithotrophy). One of the major themes of my research seeks to understand how microbial manipulators (i.e., the marine relatives of Wolbachia) serve as the selective agent of transitions between modes of developmental evolution, as well as to understand how these microbial associations evolve.

Maternal provisioning

Mothers impact the survival and performance of her offspring through the resources that she provides them. These resources typically include macronutrients (e.g., carbohydrates, lipids, mRNAs, and proteins), and the quantity and composition of these resources can have a profound impact on offspring survival, performance, and, thus, fitness. This major theme of my research seeks to understand how maternally transmitted microbes are part of this provisioning strategy and, specifically, how maternally provisioned microbes enhance offspring fitness.

Currently funded projects

Surveying the blue economy of North Carolina for Rickettsiales

Animals worldwide are experiencing the largest pandemic in history. The causal agent: Rickettsiales. This group of intracellular bacteria are responsible for tick and mosquito-borne diseases (e.g., ehrlichiosis, spotted fevers, and typhus) and the viruses that they carry are the causal agent of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. Collectively, the Rickettsiales cost the United States economy ~$1 billion through their impact on agriculture and human health. Some species of Rickettsiales in the genus Wolbachia, however, are beneficial because they do not cause diseases and directly stop the spread of the viral diseases caused by their relatives. What only became clear in the last few years is that a similar pandemic occurs in our coastal waters, yet we are only beginning to grasp how marine Rickettsiales could impact the blue economy. Marine relatives within the Rickettsiales are increasingly identified in the ocean and, specifically, in association with major groups of marine invertebrates. This project will seek to identify Rickettsiales associated with reproduction and development within ecomically important coastal species and quantify their impact. This is in collaboration with Adam Reitzel (UNC Charlotte), Rafael Vieira (UNC Charlotte), and Tal Ben-Horin (NC State University).

Genomic divergence, plasticity, and microbiome shifts in marine invertebrates along natural environmental gradients

Marine invertebrates that inhabit environmental gradients hold the required biological mechanisms to face that heterogeneity. Among these biological mechanisms, there are those acting at the intraspecific level at different evolutionary and temporal scales and interspecific with symbiotic microbes. As a result of the interaction between the intraspecific and interspecific processes, the different populations within the species found across marine environmental gradients may display varying levels of resistance and vulnerability to the physical-chemical changes around them. The final output of these differential buffering mechanisms and adaptations can play a major role in the survival of species and populations under the current scenario of ocean warming and acidification. This project uses two key echinoderms for the coastal Spanish ecosystems along strong gradients of pH (in a CO2 vent system in Fuentecaliente, La Palma island) and temperature (along the Atlantic-Mediterranean coast of Europe), and is coupled with controlled experiments in the laboratory. This work seeks to understand the process of genomic plasticity among populations related with local adaption, explore the role the microbiome in the adaption and resistance under changing conditions, and investigate the relative importance of each process on the resistance of the species to the climate change. The PIs of this project are Rocío Pérez Portela (Univ. Barcelona) and José Carlos Hernández (Univ. La Laguna).

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