Embedded Files
The project I am spending most of my time with is on the mechanisms underlying Cross-tolerance, which is a type of phenotypic plasticity (or consequence of plasticity - tbd), where tolerance to one type of stressor is enhanced by the pre-exposure to a stressor of a different nature. For this project, I phenotyped cross-tolerance in Belgica antarctica using a full-factorial approach:
In this experiment, B. antarctica was exposed to a variety of mild pre-treatments for 7 d, followed by a 24 h exposure to a harsh stressor that would normally be lethal. We were interested in testing the hypothesis that mild exposure to abiotic stress elicits a generalized protective response that enhances tolerance to unrelated stressors.
Cross-tolerance to freezing is not reciprocal
The results were somewhat surprising. While exposure to every pre-treatment enhanced freeze tolerance, this cross-tolerance was not reciprocal, as only a few pre-treatments enhanced tolerance to other stressors.
Thus, larvae were finely tuned to enhance freeze-tolerance in response to a variety of environmental signals, but tolerance to other stressors was less plastic. We then asked the questions: what are the mechanisms that elicit cross-tolerance to freezing? are they different when cross-tolerance is triggered by distinct stressors?
The systems biology of Cross-tolerance
To identify mechanisms associated with cross-tolerance, we are using a multi-omics approach, in which we quantified transcripts, proteins, and metabolites after each of the pre-treatments.
At the transcript level, few genes responded the same to every treatment, suggesting multiple gene expression states enhance freeze-tolerance. However, the genes responding various treatments do share some similar functions.
Now...
Currently, I am looking at co-expression networks, which hopefully will reveal the players involved in cross-tolerance from multiple "layers" (e.g., whether a protein maintain original conformation or undergo post-translation modifications and how said protein is involved in catabolism or synthesis of a metabolite).
As any -omics work, there is a lot of data to go through, but i believe that this is a promising work that will enlighten some interesting routes to pursue if we want to uncover the systems biology of cross-tolerance. This work also has the potential to help us understand more of the evolution of freeze tolerance in insects, which is a topic that I personally care a lot about.
Communication
This is still ongoing work. Although what I got is super exciting (the "cross-tolerance to freezing is not reciprocal" part), I am in one of those situations where you feel that the story is not over and you need to work on the question a little longer before wrap it up, you know? Nevertheless, please get in touch if you're interested in this project and/or have any questions about it!
Google Sites
Report abuse