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Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears

Large carnivores play critical roles in the maintenance and function of natural ecosystems; however, the populations of many of these species are in decline across the globe. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel techniques that can be used as sensitive conservation tools to detect new...

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Autores principales: Wilson, Abbey E, Michaud, Sarah A, Jackson, Angela M, Stenhouse, Gordon, Coops, Nicholas C, Janz, David M
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7311831/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32607241
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa056
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author Wilson, Abbey E
Michaud, Sarah A
Jackson, Angela M
Stenhouse, Gordon
Coops, Nicholas C
Janz, David M
author_facet Wilson, Abbey E
Michaud, Sarah A
Jackson, Angela M
Stenhouse, Gordon
Coops, Nicholas C
Janz, David M
author_sort Wilson, Abbey E
collection PubMed
description Large carnivores play critical roles in the maintenance and function of natural ecosystems; however, the populations of many of these species are in decline across the globe. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel techniques that can be used as sensitive conservation tools to detect new threats to the health of individual animals well in advance of population-level effects. Our study aimed to determine the expression of proteins related to energetics, reproduction and stress in the skin of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) using a liquid chromatography and multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry assay. We hypothesized that a suite of target proteins could be measured using this technique and that the expression of these proteins would be associated with biological (sex, age, sample location on body) and environmental (geographic area, season, sample year) variables. Small skin biopsies were collected from free-ranging grizzly bears in Alberta, Canada, from 2013 to 2019 (n = 136 samples from 111 individuals). Over 700 proteins were detected in the skin of grizzly bears, 19 of which were chosen as targets because of their established roles in physiological function. Generalized linear mixed model analysis was used for each target protein. Results indicate that sample year influenced the majority of proteins, suggesting that physiological changes may be driven in part by responses to changes in the environment. Season influenced the expression of proteins related to energetics, reproduction and stress, all of which were lower during fall compared to early spring. The expression of proteins related to energetics and stress varied by geographic area, while the majority of proteins that were affected by biological attributes (age class, sex and age class by sex interaction) were related to reproduction and stress. This study provides a novel method by which scientists and managers can further assess and monitor physiological function in wildlife.
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spelling pubmed-73118312020-06-29 Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears Wilson, Abbey E Michaud, Sarah A Jackson, Angela M Stenhouse, Gordon Coops, Nicholas C Janz, David M Conserv Physiol Toolbox Large carnivores play critical roles in the maintenance and function of natural ecosystems; however, the populations of many of these species are in decline across the globe. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel techniques that can be used as sensitive conservation tools to detect new threats to the health of individual animals well in advance of population-level effects. Our study aimed to determine the expression of proteins related to energetics, reproduction and stress in the skin of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) using a liquid chromatography and multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry assay. We hypothesized that a suite of target proteins could be measured using this technique and that the expression of these proteins would be associated with biological (sex, age, sample location on body) and environmental (geographic area, season, sample year) variables. Small skin biopsies were collected from free-ranging grizzly bears in Alberta, Canada, from 2013 to 2019 (n = 136 samples from 111 individuals). Over 700 proteins were detected in the skin of grizzly bears, 19 of which were chosen as targets because of their established roles in physiological function. Generalized linear mixed model analysis was used for each target protein. Results indicate that sample year influenced the majority of proteins, suggesting that physiological changes may be driven in part by responses to changes in the environment. Season influenced the expression of proteins related to energetics, reproduction and stress, all of which were lower during fall compared to early spring. The expression of proteins related to energetics and stress varied by geographic area, while the majority of proteins that were affected by biological attributes (age class, sex and age class by sex interaction) were related to reproduction and stress. This study provides a novel method by which scientists and managers can further assess and monitor physiological function in wildlife. Oxford University Press 2020-06-24 /pmc/articles/PMC7311831/ /pubmed/32607241 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa056 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press and the Society for Experimental Biology. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Toolbox
Wilson, Abbey E
Michaud, Sarah A
Jackson, Angela M
Stenhouse, Gordon
Coops, Nicholas C
Janz, David M
Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
title Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
title_full Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
title_fullStr Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
title_full_unstemmed Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
title_short Development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
title_sort development and validation of protein biomarkers of health in grizzly bears
topic Toolbox
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7311831/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32607241
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa056
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