Effects of ALAN on lunar biology at sea: Characterization of sensory-neurosecretory cell type plasticity in adult Platynereis dumerilii from protected and light polluted areas

Descripción del proyecto

Desvelar el efecto de la contaminación lumínica en los organismos marinos

Cada vez hay más pruebas de que la luz artificial nocturna (LAN) altera los ritmos naturales de los organismos marinos y afecta a su reproducción. "Descubrimientos recientes en el gusano «Platynereis dumerilii» revelan que ciertas células de su sistema nervioso central cambian con el ciclo lunar. No obstante, aún se desconoce tanto el mecanismo que subyace a este fenómeno como la forma en que la LAN lo altera. El objetivo del proyecto BrightPlaty, que cuenta con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, es dilucidar cómo la contaminación lumínica afecta a los relojes biológicos a nivel celular. En este contexto, los investigadores utilizarán la secuenciación de célula única para cartografiar los tipos celulares implicados en los ritmos lunares y analizar los efectos de la LAN.

Objetivo

In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) polluIn recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) pollution on behavior and physiology of many terrestrial and marine organisms. ALAN particularly interferes with the circadian and circalunar rhythms, which are used to coordinate reproduction in many ecologically important marine organisms, such as brown algae, corals, and annelids. The bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii has been established as a leading model organism to characterize the process controlling circadian and circalunar rhythms. Recent studies by the Raible and Tessmar-Raible laboratories (Vienna, Austria) revealed the temporal plasticity of a specific cell cluster in the adult worm brain, which is thought to orchestrate lunar rhythms. However, this intriguing discovery was made under laboratory conditions, prompting further investigation into how this translates in wild animals and whether it is affected by ALAN. This project will be hosted in the Tessmar-Raible (TR) lab at the Max Perutz Labs (MPL) - University of Vienna (Univie), Austria, and it has three objectives: (1) to obtain a complete atlas of the cell types showing lunar plasticity in P. dumeriliis brain by performing the single-cell transcriptomic experiment over the course of two lunar cycles; (2) to characterize the cell type plasticity in wild P. dumerilii; (3) to identify the effects of ALAN on such response. These objectives represent significant advancements in the field, as the plasticity of cell types in response to lunar and circadian cycles is poorly understood and has been rarely explored using single-cell sequencing. Additionally, integrating data from wild specimens will allow for an unprecedented assessment of these processes in natural conditions. Exploring the influence of ALAN on single-cell plasticity also introduces a novel dimension to single-cell analysis.