Emerging marine diesease: why to shift from friendly to nasty
Pathogens exert extreme selective pressure on their hosts and are highly prevalent in the marine realm and thus of central importance for marine ecosystem dynamics. Yet, to date, we still lack precise understanding on the complexity of environmental changes that determine shifts in pathogen virulence and thus influence the dynamics of host-pathogen interactions in the oceans. We here aim at developing a “virulence-atlas” for the most abundant marine pathogens from the genus Vibrio. We will take a multidisciplinary approach by integrating several virulence parameters in over 200 isolated Vibrio strains, infection experiments in two established host systems, and candidate virulence gene analysis, in each case under alternative environmental conditions. This project will yield a comprehensive baseline data set essential for an in-depth understanding of the consequences of emerging marine diseases under future scenarios of global change.
How important is epigenetic variation for adaptation to global change?
In the course of climate change, salinity levels inside the Baltic Sea are predicted to decrease drastically, and Baltic Sea species will face environmental shifts. To maintain viability confronted with changing conditions, adaptive potential is essential. Besides genetic diversity, epigenetic mechanisms are thought to contribute to phenotypes, due to their function in transcriptional regulation, and thus provide a possible machinery to influence the adaptive potential. We plan to screen epigenetic marks, i.e. DNA methylation, in three-spined stickleback populations from locations with different salinity regimes and to compare this to the genome-wide distribution of genetic variability. With the inference of the contribution of epigenetic variation to adaptation processes and its interrelationship with the underlying genetic diversity, we want to understand how species cope with the predicted climate change.
