A System-Wide Approach to Identify the Mechanisms of Barnacle Attachment: Toward the Discovery of New Antifouling Compounds
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SarahAl-AqeelDissertation.pdf
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Final Dissertation
Type
DissertationAuthors
Al-Aqeel, Sarah
Advisors
Ravasi, Timothy
Committee members
Qian, Pei-Yuan
Pinnau, Ingo

Voolstra, Christian R.

KAUST Department
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) DivisionDate
2015-11Embargo End Date
2016-07-01Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/582250
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At the time of archiving, the student author of this dissertation opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this dissertation became available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2016-07-01.Abstract
Biofouling is a significant economic problem, particularly for marine and offshore oil industries. The acorn barnacle (Amphibalanus (Balanus) amphitrite) is the main biofouling organism in marine environments. Environmental conditions, the physiology of the biofouling organism, the surrounding microbial community, and the properties of the substratum can all influence the attachment of biofouling organisms to substrates. My dissertation investigated the biological processes involved in B. amphitrite development and attachment in the unique environment of the Red Sea, where the average water surface temperature is 34°C and the salinity reaches 41‰. I profiled the transcriptome and proteome of B. amphitrite at different life stages (nauplius II, nauplius VI, and cyprid) and identified 65,784 expressed contigs and 1387 expressed proteins by quantitative proteomics. During the planktonic stage, genes related to osmotic stress, salt stress, the hyperosmotic response, and the Wnt signaling pathway were strongly up-regulated, hereas genes related to the MAPK pathway, lipid metabolism, and cuticle development were down-regulated. In the transition from the nauplius VI to cyprid stages, there was up-regulation of genes involved in blood coagulation, cuticle development, and eggshell formation, and down-regulation of genes in the nitric oxide pathway, which stimulates the swimming and feeding responses of marine invertebrates. This system-wide integrated approach elucidated the development and attachment pathways important in B. amphitrite. Enzymes and metabolites in these pathways are potential molecular targets for the development of new antifouling compounds.Citation
Al-Aqeel, S. (2015). A System-Wide Approach to Identify the Mechanisms of Barnacle Attachment: Toward the Discovery of New Antifouling Compounds. KAUST Research Repository. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-4Q83Vae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.25781/KAUST-4Q83V