lauric's project
Aquatic organisms must cope with several anthropogenic and environmental stressors in both the natural environment and aquaculture. These stressors affect aquatic animals at different organisational levels, from molecules to behaviour to communities. The aim of my PhD is to investigate the universal molecular stress response (gene expression, secretome) and to evaluate relevant outcomes (e.g. mortality, behaviour, phenotype). In particular, we aim to tackle two main research questions:
Figure above: Hypothesis - stressed animals can propagate stress towards neighbouring organisms through means of chemical communication, which constitutes a positive feedback loop.
In our first experiment, we showed that zebrafish embryos could propagate the effects of heat stress to naïve conspecifics (see our preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.07.438623).
A follow-up experiment confirmed that this mechanism could also be triggered by low pH stress in marine benthic species (see our preprint https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.16.440165).
Our results suggest that not only biotic stress (i.e. predation-induced disturbance cues), but also abiotic stress, have the potential to trigger inter-individual chemically-mediated stress communication. Using cutting-edge “omic” methods, the next steps of our investigations will be (i) to better understand the chemicals involved in the positive feedback loops (see Fig. 1) through metabolomics, and (ii) to better characterise the molecular pathways they excite in receivers, through transcriptomics.
Lauric's Background
After a BSc in “Biology of Organisms and Populations” (UBO, France). I pursued an MSc in “Biology of Marine Organisms” at the European Institute for Marine Studies (IUEM, France). Throughout my university degrees, I had the opportunity to undertake several internships and experiments related to the stress response in aquatic animal species. I increased my awareness of the current issues in the marine environment during my undergraduate projects at Setec In Vivo (France) and Cedre (France). During my master projects, I gained a better understanding of the aquaculture industry with applied research projects on muscle growth and repair in rainbow trout (LPGP, INRA, France), and diet-controlled fish immune system in the white snook (CIBNOR, Mexico). This forged my interest in research about how aquatic animals respond to environmental challenges (climate change, pathogens), either in natural setups or in aquaculture, particularly at the molecular level.
- What are the common stress biomarkers showing altered expression in the transcriptome of different aquatic models (zebrafish embryos vs adult harbour ragworm) exposed to different stressors (heat, UV, ocean acidification)?
- Can stressed individuals propagate stress to neighbouring organisms through chemical signalling? (Figure 1)
Figure above: Hypothesis - stressed animals can propagate stress towards neighbouring organisms through means of chemical communication, which constitutes a positive feedback loop.
In our first experiment, we showed that zebrafish embryos could propagate the effects of heat stress to naïve conspecifics (see our preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.07.438623).
A follow-up experiment confirmed that this mechanism could also be triggered by low pH stress in marine benthic species (see our preprint https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.16.440165).
Our results suggest that not only biotic stress (i.e. predation-induced disturbance cues), but also abiotic stress, have the potential to trigger inter-individual chemically-mediated stress communication. Using cutting-edge “omic” methods, the next steps of our investigations will be (i) to better understand the chemicals involved in the positive feedback loops (see Fig. 1) through metabolomics, and (ii) to better characterise the molecular pathways they excite in receivers, through transcriptomics.
Lauric's Background
After a BSc in “Biology of Organisms and Populations” (UBO, France). I pursued an MSc in “Biology of Marine Organisms” at the European Institute for Marine Studies (IUEM, France). Throughout my university degrees, I had the opportunity to undertake several internships and experiments related to the stress response in aquatic animal species. I increased my awareness of the current issues in the marine environment during my undergraduate projects at Setec In Vivo (France) and Cedre (France). During my master projects, I gained a better understanding of the aquaculture industry with applied research projects on muscle growth and repair in rainbow trout (LPGP, INRA, France), and diet-controlled fish immune system in the white snook (CIBNOR, Mexico). This forged my interest in research about how aquatic animals respond to environmental challenges (climate change, pathogens), either in natural setups or in aquaculture, particularly at the molecular level.
Papers
Feugere, L., Scott, V. F., Rodriguez-Barucg, Q., Beltran-Alvarez, P. & Wollenberg Valero, K. C. Thermal stress induces a positive phenotypic and molecular feedback loop in zebrafish embryos. J. Therm. Biol. 102, 103114 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103114
Feugere, L., Scott, V. F., Rodriguez-Barucg, Q., Beltran-Alvarez, P. & Wollenberg Valero, K. C. Thermal stress induces a positive phenotypic and molecular feedback loop in zebrafish embryos. J. Therm. Biol. 102, 103114 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103114
