Jessica G Avalos, Cory D Champagne, Dan E Crocker, Jane I Khudyakov
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Animals in nature potentially experience multiple stressors, and those of anthropogenic origin are likely to be repeated or chronic. However, stress hormone levels are highly context-dependent and are not consistent predictors of chronic stress in wildlife. Profiling the downstream consequences of repeated stress responses, such as changes in metabolism or gene expression, may be more informative for predicting their individual-level health consequences and population-level impacts, which are key objectives for wildlife conservation. We previously found that in free-ranging juvenile elephant seals, the blubber transcriptome and proteome, but not cortisol levels, could distinguish between responses to single versus repeated stress axis stimulation. However, the blubber proteome response to stress was limited and mainly involved extra-cellular matrix proteins. In this study, we examined the plasma proteome response of four of the same animals to the repeated stress experiment, since multiple organs secrete proteins into the circulation, providing a readout of their activity and integration. We isolated plasma proteins, identified and quantified them using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and compared their abundance between sampling times. We identified >200 proteins in plasma, of which 42 were altered in abundance, revealing complex protein dynamics in response to repeated stress challenges. These changes were delayed but sustained, suggesting that the plasma proteome may reflect longer term integration of multi-organ responses to recent, rather than immediate, challenges. Differentially abundant proteins included components of the osmoregulatory system, acute phase and complement proteins, organokines, apolipoproteins and hormone transport proteins, which coordinate physiological processes with significant implications for marine mammal health and may explain several aspects of marine mammal stress physiology, such as insulin resistance and high aldosterone levels. We identified several potentially novel biomarkers, such as AGT, HPX, TTR and APOA4, that may be useful for detecting recent and repeated stress exposure in marine mammals.
期刊介绍:
Conservation Physiology is an online only, fully open access journal published on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.
Biodiversity across the globe faces a growing number of threats associated with human activities. Conservation Physiology will publish research on all taxa (microbes, plants and animals) focused on understanding and predicting how organisms, populations, ecosystems and natural resources respond to environmental change and stressors. Physiology is considered in the broadest possible terms to include functional and mechanistic responses at all scales. We also welcome research towards developing and refining strategies to rebuild populations, restore ecosystems, inform conservation policy, and manage living resources. We define conservation physiology broadly and encourage potential authors to contact the editorial team if they have any questions regarding the remit of the journal.