Molecular Signature of Physiological Stress in Dolphins Based on Protein Expression Profiling of Skin

摘要

Global climate change and the growing impact of human activities have contributed to an increase in environmental stress in most ecosystems. The consequences for wildlife may be profound, but remain poorly understood. A major problem is that any impact is only noticed when a population suffers rapid decline, by which time it may be too late to implement conservation strategies. Here we describe a new technique for detecting a molecular signature of physiological stress, based on the expression profiles of 40 proteins known to be associated with stress. Profiles were obtained for 93 reference individuals with known health status, representing 8 species of mammal and a wide range of stressors. Diagnostic stress-associated changes could be readily identified using antibody staining of the skin. Using high throughput profiling we then surveyed cellular stress in 868 wild spotted dolphins sampled from a natural population potentially stressed by commercial tuna fishing operations. The protein panel identified in this study provides a new tool for defining the proteomics of physiological stress responses. The integration of high throughput profiling linked to ecological data provides an effective approach to assess physiological stress in free living wild populations, and has further applications in medicine.