PROFESSOR PAUL H. YANCEY
Carl E. Peterson Endowed Chair of Sciences
Biology Dept., Whitman College, Walla Walla WA 99362 USA
509 527 5498
|
Click
here for: |
Click here for: |
Paul H. Yancey
earned his B.S. (with honors) in Biology from the California
Institute of Technology,
where he did undergraduate research on DNA-RNA hybridization. He
received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology (specializing in marine animal
physiology and biochemistry) from the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (U.C. San Diego), working
mainly on osmoregulatory biochemistry of sharks. His research focuses
on WATER STRESS and
OSMOREGULATION,
and has since expanded to include medical (kidney
osmoregulation) and salmon as well as marine organisms, most recently
in the deep sea. |
|
|
||
.
|
TEACHING: Prof. Yancey's courses and other teaching activities are listed below, and can be accessed by clicking the blue links: |
|
Courses taught: |
|
Educational sites on adaptations: |
|
Physiology* |
Marine
Biology |
Bioethics
|
Student
Research |
|
*Dr. Yancey is a
co-author of a 2005
TEXTBOOK: ANIMAL
PHYSIOLOGY by
Sherwood, Klandorf, Yancey (Brooks-Cole)
|
RESEARCH: Prof. Yancey's research is described below, and can be accessed by clicking the blue topics: |
|
OSMOLYTE |
|
||
.
.
|
OVERVIEW RESEARCH on the physiology and
biochemistry of animal adaptation, particularly related to water and
osmoregulation from humans to deep-sea animals.
Click for a full list of Prof. Yancey's publications. More information can also be found by at my SENIOR RESEARCH page, |
|
|
CURRENT OSMOLYTE RESEARCH
is on:
Prof.
Yancey and others have found that some osmolytes, especially
methylamine types such as TMAO (left), can actually stabilize proteins and counteract destabilizing effects of
perturbants such as urea, salt, temperature and pressure. TMAO has a breakdown product, TMA
(trimethylamine), that makes marine animals smell "fishy." Methylamines
are high and appear to protect proteins in --Stabilizing properties of osmolytes may have practical
application,
e.g., Welch and colleagues have shown that TMAO and other osmolytes can
prevent the damaging protein of "mad-cow" disease from forming, and can
cause the malformed protein of cystic fibrosis to fold properly. (Dr. Yancey
assisted in one of the latter studies; see Howard
et al.
reference below in Research Area 2.) --We are also studying the role of osmolyte-type solutes
in animals at hydrothermal vents and gas seeps, which have high levels of
hydrogen sulfide, a gas toxic to most animals. A major osmolyte in
shallow-water marine invertebrates such as clams and crabs is taurine. Taurine is also essential for
mammalian brain development, and is the primary ingredient in many
so-called energy or sports drinks (hint: the name taurine is derived
from Taurus [bull]). Researchers in France have found high levels of
the taurine derivatives hypotaurine and
thiotaurine
in clams, mussels and tubeworms which have sulfide-oxidizing bacterial
symbionts. Thiotaurine, a product of hypotaurine and sulfide, may be a
mechanism to prevent sulfide toxicity. We have found hypotaurine and
thiotaurine in vent snails, limpets and heat-loving paralvinellid worms
without symbionts, and shown that thiotaurine levels vary with sulfide
exposure in these animals kept in laboratory pressure chambers. See Seeps and Vents page for
pictures and Deep-Sea
Research Page for research details. --Other researchers have found that the common osmolyte
of marine algae, DMSP (dimethylsulfonoproprionate),
breaks down into the gas DMS (dimethylsulfide), which is
largely responsible for the "smell of the sea" that evokes emotional
responses to the ocean. DMS is also thought to trigger the seeding of
clouds, in what may be a global temperature negative feedback process.
This is one of the postulates of the so-called Gaia hypothesis, which suggests
that global warming will cause more DMS production, which via cloud
formation may cool the planet. |
|
Review articles on osmoregulation with osmolytes (RED = recommended reading for overview on osmolytes):
Primary research articles are below |
Back to Research Index ; Back to top of page
|
For more details--with pictures, descriptions, videos--CLICK the DEEPSEA button --> Click
here for Research Area
2. MEDICAL/MAMMALIAN RESEARCH |
|
|
|
|
Publications
on OSMOLYTES: SHARKS, Bony
FISH, FROGS,
and CORALS (*undergraduate
co-author):
|
|
|
Publications on proteins and osmolytes in DEEP-SEA/Hydrothermal-Vent/Gas-Seep Animals: (*undergraduate co-authors):
|
|
|
Other Publications in Marine / Comparative Physiology: Toxicology; TEMPERATURE adaptations, MUSCLE physiology:
|
Back
to Research Index ; Back
to top of page
|
Research Area 2. MAMMALIAN KIDNEY and BRAIN OSMOLYTES |
||
Publications (some with undergraduate co-authors*) in mammalian osmoregulation:
|
||
 Normal kidney cells growing in tissue culture |
 Kidney cells in culture exposed to 1mM Ibuprofen |
 Restoring cystic-fibrosis channel function with osmolytes (Howard et al., 2003) |
|
AREA 3. COMMENTARY ARTICLES :
|
Back to Research Index ; Back
to top of page; GO TO Whitman Biology Home
Page