PAUL H. YANCEY
Professor of Biology
Carl E. Peterson Endowed Chair of Sciences
Biology Dept., Whitman College,
Walla Walla WA 99362 USA
Curriculum Vitae
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BIOGRAPHY: Click here for Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Yancey's hobbies include photography, woodworking, stained glass, hiking, gardening. |
Current Research: ORGANIC OSMOLYTES in: . |
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*Dr. Yancey is a co-author of a 2005 (1st ed.) and 2013 (2nd ed.) TEXTBOOK: |
Student
Research and Thesis |
DEEP-SEA OVERVIEW:
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Interview of me at The Reef Tank
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RESEARCH: Prof. Yancey's research is described below, with additional information found by clicking the blue topics: |
OVERVIEW
More information can also be found by at Prof. Yancey's SENIOR RESEARCH page. |
IN THE NEWS:  2014: Deepest fish found, Mariana Trench A biochemical depth limit for fishes? PNAS paper 3/2014 2012 HADES news: Science; Science News 2012 Cover Story: Trieste flatfish, Biol. Bulletin 2012 Giant trench amphipod story 2010 hagfish slime story in J. Exp. Biol. 1999 New Scientist on TMAO & pressure |
TEAM OSMOLYTE
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RECENT and CURRENT
OSMOLYTE RESEARCH: See NEWS stories in Science and Science News and National Public Radio and New Scientist |
1) DEEP-SEA Animals and
PRESSURE: Osmolytes as "Piezolytes" (pressure solutes)
--International N.S.F. HADES Program: 2011-2015 --with Tim Shank, WHOI, Jeff Drazen, U. Hawai'i (co-PIs); international collaborators: Alan Jamieson, U. Aberdeen; Ashley Rowden, NIWA NZ; and several others including Doug Bartlett of Scripps Inst. Oceanogr.Patty Fryer, U. Hawai'i, and James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGE --See NEWS stories in Science and Science News and National Public Radio and New Scientist 2) CORAL Osmolytes and Stress Factors --A) CRYOPRESERVATION of coral larvae ; Osmolyte roles in SYMBIOSIS: with Mary Hagedorn, Smithsonian Institution/Univ. Hawai'i --B) SALINITY/pH adaptations of corals in ojos de agua near Yucatan's Mesoamerican Reef [pics here] --collaboration with Adina Paytan (UCSC) , Elizabeth Derse Crook (UCI) and Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra, Laura Hernandez (Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan) 3) BRAIN CELLS and BETAINE [osmolyte]: Protective properties in exercise-related stress? --with Leena Knight (Whitman); Stuart Craig, Kirsti Tiihonen (Danisco/DuPont) 4) MIGRATORY/Euryhaline FISH Osmolytes: Anguilla EELS and SALMON; STICKLEBACKS--with Gordon Cramb, University of St. Andrews UK; and Jeff Divino, Eric Schultz, U. Conn. 5) DEEP-SEA SKATES: with Dr. Jason Treberg, U. Mannitoba |
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Trimethylamine
oxide (TMAO) |
DETAILS: 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 i) sharks and relatives, which also have the perturbing compound urea as an osmolyte; ii) mammalian (including human) kidneys, which must concentrate urea as a perturbing waste; iii) deep-sea animals which must cope with protein disturbances from high pressure. Our discovery of TMAO's role in the deep sea was featured in a New Scientist news story in 1999 and in a 2012 cover story of Science News. See Deep-sea Fish page for pictures and Deep-Sea Research page for research details. --Stabilizing properties of osmolytes may have practical applications, 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. -- We have recently been working on DMSP and other osmolytes in coral animals and their symbionts, with Dr. Mary Hagedorn,who is hoping to cryopreserve coral larvae for potential re-seeding of decimated reef habitats. |
PUBLICATIONS: Click for a full list of Prof. Yancey's publications. Papers are listed below by theme/area |
I. REVIEW and COMMENTARY ARTICLES A. REVIEW ARTICLES on osmotic balance and cytoprotection using osmolytes (RED = recommended reading for overview on osmolytes) [Primary research articles are below]:
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II. MARINE / COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY: ADAPTATIONS to SALINITY, TEMPERATURE, SULFIDE, PRESSURE: A. SHALLOW OCEANS: SHARKS and relatives, BONY FISH, and CORALS; plus FROGS (*undergraduate co-authors): (For DEEP-SEA animals, see next section below)
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B. DEEP-SEA ANIMALS -- PRESSURE; HYDROTHERMAL VENTS and COLD SEEPS (*undergraduate co-authors):
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C. MISC:
RNA in DEVELOPMENT; TOXICOLOGY; TEMPERATURE adaptations; MUSCLE
physiology (*undergraduate co-authors)
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III.
MAMMALIAN/MEDICAL RESEARCH: KIDNEY and
BRAIN OSMOLYTES
(undergraduate co-authors*):
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 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) |
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