HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

BrackAdapt · Using genomics to understand how freshwater fishes turned a lethal environment into an ideal habitat

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 222 728 €
Участници: 1
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Генетичните промени при костура и щуката показват как тези сладководни риби са се адаптирали към солените води на Балтийско море. Това помага да се предвиди как рибните видове ще реагират на промените в околната среда и нивото на солеността.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Using genomics to understand how freshwater fishes turned a lethal environment into an ideal habitat

Coastal and estuarine zones are changing rapidly as sea levels rise and rainfall patterns shift. These changes alter the salt content (salinity) of waters where rivers meet the sea, reshaping habitats that many fish depend on. Most fish are adapted either to fresh water or to the open sea; only a few can cope with the constantly changing salinities in estuaries. Yet these brackish areas are highly productive and support important fisheries and local biodiversity. The Baltic Sea—the world’s largest brackish water body—offers a natural laboratory to study how fish adapt to these demanding conditions. Two freshwater species, European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and pike (Esox lucius), have each evolved brackish-water ecotypes in parts of the Baltic that can thrive at salt levels lethal to non‑adapted freshwater individuals. Understanding *how* these ecotypes arose, *which* genomic changes enable their tolerance to salinity, and *whether* similar solutions evolved repeatedly is vital for predicting how fish will respond to ongoing environmental change. The BrackAdapt project set out to: * Generate high‑coverage whole‑genome data from freshwater and brackish populations of perch and pike across the western Baltic region and inland reference sites. * Reconstruct population structure, demographic history, and connectivity among populations to understand past responses to environmental change. * Identify genomic regions and biological pathways linked to salinity tolerance and trace when and where adaptive changes emerged and spread. * Test the repeatability of evolution by assessing whether adaptation to brackish habitats followed parallel routes within and between species. By providing a genomic basis for salinity tolerance and mapping population connectivity, the project aims to inform conservation and fisheries management, support climate adaptation strategies for coastal ecosystems, and protect locally adapted biodiversity.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Ongoing climate change leads to rising sea levels and changes in local precipitation volume and regularity which will reshape estuarine ecosystems across Earth. As current climate change dramatically alters estuarine ecosystems, fish populations must adapt to the novel environment, or they will go extinct. Understanding how past environmental changes led to genomic adaptations is the key to predicting the adaptive potential of fishes facing ongoing climate change and could be the difference between protecting and losing locally adapted biodiversity. Perch (Perca fluviatilis) and pike (Esox lucius) are two freshwater fish species inhabiting freshwater ecosystems across the northern hemisphere. Nevertheless, in the Baltic Sea, which is the world’s largest estuary, each species have developed brackish water ecotypes capable of thriving at salinities exceeding their internal salinity. This requires fundamentally different cellular functions and is lethal to non-adapted freshwater individuals. However, their evolutionary histories and functional genomic adaptations are unknown. Through deep sequencing of brackish water and freshwater ecotypes of perch and pike, Project BrackAdapt aims to identify the demographic and evolutionary history of each species. The project will identify genomic regions under selection for salinity tolerance and investigate whether genomic adaptations to environmental changes are parallel in function, time and space within and between species. The training and project management experience I will gain during the project will be a stepping-stone for my career to advance and make me an independent researcher.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

LUNDS UNIVERSITET · LundКоординаторШвеция