Meeting Abstract

P1.81  Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30  Temperature effects on the electric discharge and gene expression in the electric organ of Eigenmannia virescens GüTH, R.*; HARRIS, M.; SALAZAR, E.; NAWATHE, V.; SHARIFI, M.; TANG, W.; MISRA, S.; UNGUEZ, G.A.; New Mexico State University, Las Cruces rgueth@nmsu.edu

Environmental factors affect protein composition and behavioral outputs of motor systems. For instance, ambient water temperature alters the physiological and contractile properties of skeletal muscle of teleosts (Watabe 2002). The weakly electric gymnotiform fish Eigenmannia virescens possesses a highly specialized electromotor system that evolved from skeletal muscle and generates an electrical discharge (EOD) used for communication and navigation. Unlike muscle, this electric organ (EO) tissue does not contract and is activated continuously by distinct electromotoneurons at frequencies between 250-600Hz (Assad 1998). Previous studies showed that the EOD frequency in E. virescens is affected by changes in water temperature (Enger 1968; Boudinot 1970). However, these studies examined the duration of this effect for only short durations of time of less than 20 minutes. This work will expand these data by characterizing the effect of water temperature on E. virescens EOD and EO gene expression over at least 2 weeks. To date, we have developed a wireless multi-sensor framework capable of monitoring EODs (under review, IEEE BioCAS 2013) and are expanding this system to continuously record water temperature. This will allow long-term, continuous EOD recordings from fish kept at different water temperatures (25° vs 30°C; n=5 each). Following stabilization of EOD frequencies at 2 weeks, EO tissue will be harvested and analyzed for changes in gene expression. These data will expand our current understanding of long-term effects of ambient temperature on EO activity, and furthermore help elucidate the role of temperature in regulation of gene expression in electromotor systems.