Patrick Emery, Ph.D. – NSF IOS-2139765

Patrick Emery, Ph.D. – NSF IOS-2139765  - “Collaborative Research: Mechanisms Underlying Circatidal Rhythms in Parhyale Hawaiensis”

04/01/2022 - 03/31/2025

Near the coastline, animals need to adapt their physiology and behavior to the rising and falling of tides. To this end, they use circatidal clocks that allow them to anticipate rhythmic changes in water levels, in a similar way that circadian clocks allow most organisms to adjust their physiology and behavior to the day/night cycle. The mechanisms underlying circatidal clocks are not yet known, and this gap of knowledge is in large part attributable to a lack of a fully genetically-tractable model organism.  Our NSF-supported research project is aimed at developing such model.  Indeed, we found that the genetically-tractable crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis exhibits robust circatidal rhythms of swimming that can be entrained and monitored in a laboratory setting. We can thus now use genome engineering and other genetic methods in P. hawaiensis to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying circatidal rhythms and their synchronization with tides.