[All-postdocs] Bioseminar this Thursday: Joint Program students Cory Berger and Kayla Gardner

[Margot McKlveen]

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*Biology Department Virtual Seminar*

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Thursday, January 14 at Noon

Zoom link: 
https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/98783604265?pwd=dS9TclAwekRyMHp1OWdUSU4zaVNQQT09


MIT-WHOI Joint Program students Cory Berger: “Conserved molecular 
responses to starvation in two Southern Ocean copepods”Kayla Gardner: 
“Exploring mesopelagic food webs in the North Atlantic Ocean using 
carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of amino acids.”

Cory Berger: Conserved molecular responses to starvation in two Southern 
Ocean copepods

Abstract: Copepods are crustacean zooplankton that collectively form one 
of the most abundant groups of animals on Earth. In the polar oceans, 
some copepods store large amounts of lipids, making them a critical food 
resource for higher trophic levels. In this study, we focus on two 
dominant Southern Ocean copepods that differ in the chemical makeup of 
their lipid stores. Calanoides acutusis predominantly herbivorous and 
primarily stores wax esters, while Calanus propinquusis more omnivorous 
and stores triglycerides. Adult females of both species were subject to 
a shipboard experiment, where they were either fed or starved for 9 days 
and characterized with RNA-seq. We use these experimental data in 
conjunction with a phylogenetic gene family-level approach to compare 
the transcriptomic starvation responses of these species. At a broad 
level, starved individuals of both species downregulate genes related to 
lipid metabolism and transport, including hydrolases and lipases that 
catalyze steps in lipid degradation. By explicitly considering the 
homologous relationships between genes, we test whether, and to what 
extent, the starvation response is mediated by the same orthologs and 
gene families. We characterize a conserved starvation response involving 
the upregulation of enzymes involved in RNA and protein metabolism, 
which may mediate cellular homeostasis in the face of nutrient deprivation.


Kayla Grace Gardner: Exploring mesopelagic food webs in the North 
Atlantic Ocean using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of 
amino acids.

Abstract: Mesopelagic ecosystems in the open ocean support remarkably 
high biomass and diversity of fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods and 
gelatinous organisms. Despite this impressive abundance, we remain 
remarkably ignorant of the ecological roles that mesopelagic animals 
play in the open ocean. This knowledge gap has stymied efforts to 
determine the effects of potential extraction of mesopelagic biomass by 
industrial fisheries on ecosystem services provided by the open ocean. I 
initiated a study of mesopelagic food webs in the Northwest Atlantic 
Ocean, focusing on fish, crustaceans and squid, using compound specific 
stable carbon isotope analysis (carbon CSIA). Specimens were obtained 
from mid water trawl and MOCNESS tows off the shelf of southern New 
England in August 2018.  Samples were returned to the lab and analyzed 
using gas chromatography stable isotope ratioing mass spectrometry 
(GC-irm-MS). We found that individual within a species generally 
clustered together while there were distinctions among species. Vertical 
migration patterns, or the absence of these patterns, along with assumed 
dietary preferences appear to explain broad cluster patterns. This study 
aims to lay a foundation for determining the structure and function of 
mesopelagic food webs and identifying the source of carbon fueling 
mesopelagic communities. Future work will incorporate zooplankton 
species and the addition of nitrogen CSIA to introduce a trophic component.

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-- 
Margot McKlveen | she/her
Senior Administrative Assistant
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Redfield Building Room 305 | MS 32
266 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA 02543
508-289-2334
mmcklveen at whoi.edu

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