NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Globally, fish are second only to swine for animal protein production.

Aquaculture, fish farming, is the fastest growing agricultural sector in the world with both fresh and saltwater fish as major components. One of the distinguishing factors of fish from other vertebrates is the utilization of gills. In addition to respiration, fish use gills for gas and waste exchange.

Gills cover a large surface area and are also the home to many microorganisms including eukaryotes, bacteria, archaea, and viruses collectively known as the microbiome. Understanding the relationship between the gill microbiome and the host physiology is critical for fish health. This research will identify the consequences of microbial communities that reside in the gill of the fish and provide ways to manipulate these communities for the benefit of the fish through host genetics and microbial communities.

The study will allow an ideal educational interface with outreach activities (science communication) that include tours with underrepresented minority elementary school students.

Specifically, this research will use multi-omic methods such as genome sequencing, microbiome sequencing, and transcriptomics to evaluate the genomic landscape of the fish gill. The Fellow has collected 100 local fish species from Southern California, representing 25% of the total marine diversity and will sequence and compare the fish genomes and gill microbiomes.

The proposal seeks to achieve the following objectives: (1) quantify environmental and biological (host) factors regulating gill microbiome development, (2) investigate microbial spatial distribution in fish gills across tuna, mackerels and fast swimming pelagic species, and (3) compare microbial biofouling impacts on metabolic rate in mackerel, a model Scrombrid (Scomber japonicus). By developing methods to knock out and knock in the microbiome of the fish gill, the Fellow will then evaluate how microbial density or biofouling negatively affects respiration.

Future research from this project could use these data to develop probiotics or therapeutics to enhance gill health. The Fellow will learn methods in comparative fish genomics, transcriptomics, and physiology, building upon prior experience in microbiome research while promoting outreach specifically with teaching these concepts to LMIC and underserved communities through workshops.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.