Molecular indicators of chronic stress ina model pinniped - the northern elephant seal

Abstract

Limited data are currently available on molecular mechanisms that mediate the stress response in marine mammals. This insufficiency hinders discovery and development of markers of elevated stress and its consequences. Non-targeted "-omics" technologies offer a powerful approach for rapidly increasing our understanding of the stress response. Transcriptomics quantifies global changes in gene activity during a physiological perturbation; metabolomics quantifies global changes in metabolic products between distinct phenotypic states (Wang et al., 2009; Patti et al., 2012). Genes and metabolic pathways that are significantly altered between baseline and stressed conditions can be used as qualitative and quantitative markers of physiological stress. The objectives of the proposed effort are to determine molecular markers of stress using (1) transcriptomics and (2) metabolomics approaches, (3) integrate these molecular markers to discover commonalities, and (4) use these integrated markers to distinguish acute and chronic stress states in marine mammals.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Aug 12, 2016
Source ID
N000141512773

Entities

People

  • Cory D Champagne

Organizations

  • National Marine Mammal Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Immunology and Pathology
  • Marine Mammal Biology
  • Oncology and Biomarker-Based Cancer Detection.