USAP-DC

Antarctica’s native animals face increasing stressors from warming oceans. A key unanswered question is how Antarctic life will respond. If warmer waters contribute to fish disease susceptibility, then iconic Antarctic predators they support, including penguins, seals, and killer whales, will suffer. A recent scientific cruise on the Antarctic peninsula encountered a population of crowned notothen fish that were plagued by pink, wart-like tumors that covered 10% to 30% of the body surface on about a third of the animals. Similar tumors had not previously been reported, suggesting that this might be a new disease that threatens Antarctic fish. The goal of proposed work is to identify the biological origins of the tumor and how it affects cell function and organismal physiology. The work is potentially transformative because it studies what might be a harbinger of Antarctic fish responses to global climate change. The project has several Broader Impacts. First, it will publicize the tumors. Because Antarctic researchers have never reported a tumor epidemic, the community must become aware of the outbreak and the tumor’s distinct diagnostic features. Second, dissemination of project results will stir further research to determine if this is an isolated event or is becoming a general phenomenon, and thus a broad concern for Antarctic ecosystems. Third, assays the project develops to detect the disease will enhance research infrastructure. Finally, work will broaden the nation’s scientific workforce by providing authentic research experiences for high school students and undergraduates from groups underrepresented in scientific research. The overall goal of proposed work is to identify the biological origins of the neoplasia and how it affects cell function and physiology. Aim 1 is to identify the pathogenic agent. Aim 1a is to test the hypothesis that a virus causes the neoplasia by isolating and sequencing viral nucleic acids from neoplasias and from animals that are not visibly affected. Aim 1b is to test neoplasias for bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or invertebrate parasites not present in healthy skin. Aim 2 is to learn how the disease alters the biology of affected cells. Aim 2a is to examine histological sections of affected and control tissues to see if the neoplasias are similar to previously reported skin diseases in temperate water fishes. Aim 2b is to examine the function of neoplastic cells by RNA-seq transcriptomics to identify genes that are differentially expressed in neoplasias and normal skin. Achieving these Aims will advance knowledge by identifying the causes and consequences of an outbreak of neoplasias in Antarctic fish. Proposed work is significant because it is the first to investigate a neoplasia cluster in Antarctic fish. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Person	Role
Postlethwait, John	Investigator and contact
Varsani, Arvind	Co-Investigator
Desvignes, Thomas	Co-Investigator

Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems

Award # 1947040

USAP-1947040_1

Deployment	Type
LMG1805	ship expedition

None in the Database

Repository	Title (link)	Format(s)	Status
R2R	Expedition Data of LMG1805	None	exists
MorphoSource	Trematomus scotti with X-cell xenomas	Not Provided	exist
GenBank	18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia coronata (nov. sp.)	Not Provided	exist
GenBank	18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia picta (nov. sp.)	Not Provided	exists
NCBI SRA	Raw Illumina sequencing reads from skin tumors and visually healthy skins from Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni	Not Provided	exists
ZooBank	Nomenclatural Act for the genus Notoxcellia	None	exist
ZooBank	Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia coronata	None	exist
ZooBank	Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia picta	None	exist
R2R	Expedition Data of LMG1805	None	exists
USAP-DC	Morphological and pathological data of Trematomus scotti specimens captured on May 30th, 2018 in Andvord Bay.	Not Provided	exists
USAP-DC	Temperature profiles at five fishing locations on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral fall 2018.	Not Provided	exists
USAP-DC	Fish pictures and skin pathology of X-cell infection in Trematomus scotti.	Not Provided	exists
USAP-DC	Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species.	Not Provided	exists
USAP-DC	Histopathology of X-cell xenomas in Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni.	Not Provided	exists
USAP-DC	Metagenomic analysis of apparently healthy and tumor samples using Kaiju software	Excel	exists
USAP-DC	microMRI analyses of Trematomus scotti Tsco_18_08 with X-cell xenomas	PDF, AVI	exists
USAP-DC	In situ hybridization of X-cell and host fish 18S SSU rRNA in alternate sections of tumor xenomas.	Not Provided	exists
USAP-DC	Trematomus scotti mt-co1 sequence alignment.	FASTA	exists
USAP-DC	Morphological, fecundity, and age data of Trematomus scotti from Andvord Bay and the Weddell Sea.	Microsoft Excel (OpenXML)	exists
USAP-DC	Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species, including novel Ross Sea specimen	ZIP Archive	exists
USAP-DC	Gonad and skin histology of Trematomus loennbergii infected by Notoxcellia sp.	ZIP Archive	exists
USAP-DC	Similarity matrices of Notoxcellia spp.	Microsoft Excel (OpenXML)	exists

1. Desvignes, T., Le François, N.R., Streeter, M. et al. Hybridization barriers between the congeneric antarctic notothenioid fish Notothenia coriiceps and Notothenia rossii. Polar Biol 47, 163–171 (2024). (doi:10.1007/s00300-023-03216-7)
2. Kraberger, S., Austin, C., Farkas, K., Desvignes, T., Postlethwait, J. H., Fontenele, R. S., … Varsani, A. (2022). Discovery of novel fish papillomaviruses: From the Antarctic to the commercial fish market. Virology, 565, 65–72. (doi:10.1016/j.virol.2021.10.007)
3. Ashique AM, Atake OJ, Ovens K, Guo R, Pratt IV, Detrich HW 3rd, Cooper DML, Desvignes T, Postlethwait JH, Eames BF. Bone microstructure and bone mineral density are not systemically different in Antarctic icefishes and related Antarctic notothenioids. J Anat. 2022 Jan;240(1):34-49. (doi:10.1111/joa.13537)
4. Hotaling, S., Borowiec, M.L., Lins, L.S.F., Desvignes, T., Kelley, J.L. (2021) The biogeographic history of eelpouts and related fishes: Linking phylogeny, environmental change, and patterns of dispersal in a globally distributed fish group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107211)
5. Beck, E.A., Healey, H.M., Small, C.M., Currey, M.C., Desvignes, T., Cresko, W.A., Postlethwait, J.H. (2022) Advancing human disease research with fish evolutionary mutant models. Trends in genetics (doi:10.1016/j.tig.2021.07.002)
6. Desvignes, T., Postlethwait, J.H. & Konstantinidis, P. (2020) Biogeography of the Antarctic dragonfishes Acanthodraco dewitti and Psilodraco breviceps with re-description of Acanthodraco dewitti larvae (Notothenioidei: Bathydraconidae). Polar Biol 43, 565–572. (doi:10.1007/s00300-020-02661-y)
7. Caccavo, J.A., Christiansen, H., Constable, A.J., Ghigliotti, L., Trebilco, R., Brooks, C.M., Cotte, C., Desvignes, T., Dornan, T., Jones, C.D., Koubbi, P., Saunders, R.A., Strobel, A., Vacchi, M., van de Putte, A.P., Walters, A., Waluda, C.M., Woods, B.L., Xavier, J.C. (2021) Productivity and Change in Fish and Squid in the Southern Ocean. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 9:624918
8. Fischhoff, I. R., Castellanos, A. A., Rodrigues, J. P. G. L. M., Varsani, A., & Han, B. A. (2021). Predicting the zoonotic capacity of mammals to transmit SARS-CoV-2. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1963). (doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1651)
9. Desvignes T, Lauridsen H, Valdivieso A, Fontenele RS, Kraberger S, Murray KN, Le François NR, Detrich HW 3rd, Kent ML, Varsani A, Postlethwait JH. A parasite outbreak in notothenioid fish in an Antarctic fjord. iScience. 2022 Jun 15;25(7):104588. (doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104588)
10. Hotaling, S., Desvignes, T., Sproul, J.S., Lins, L.S.F., Kelley, J.L. (2022) Pathways to polar adaptation in fishes revealed by long-read sequencing. Molecular Ecology. (doi:10.1111/mec.16501)
11. DaMommio, C., Postlethwait, J.H., Desvignes, T. (2022) A mysterious disease in Antarctic fish (https://blogs.uoregon.edu/antarcticxcell/). (doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.624918)
12. Desvignes, T., Péron, C., Devine, J., & Postlethwait, J. H. (2025). The Scaly Notothen Trematomus loennbergii a new host, and the Ross Sea, Antarctica, a new locality for dermal X‑cell parasites Notoxcellia spp. Polar Biology, 48(2). (doi:10.1007/s00300-025-03379-5)