Maria Rosaria Coscia, IBBC-CNR, Naples
Abstract: Antarctic fish are an extraordinary example of adaptation to the extreme cold environment, where significant genome modification events have played a crucial role. Due to the well-documented plasticity of its gene locus, the immunoglobulin (Ig) molecule represents a valuable model for understanding evolutionary modifications occurred in the Antarctic fish genome. To date, three Ig heavy chain (IgH) isotypes, IgM, IgD, and IgT, have been identified in different teleost species. In earlier studies, we described for the first time IgM and IgT genes in the Antarctic fish species, disclosing an unsuspected complexity of the IgH gene locus. Most modifications were ascribed to duplications and/or deletions introduced by random events in Ig genes, leading to exon gain or partial loss. Of note, IgM possess a remarkably long hinge region, not found in any other teleost species, whereas IgT lack almost an entire domain, but rather retain a very limited portion of it, likely acting as a linker. Given their unique features, such regions could be considered as a result of adaptive evolution to provide the antibody molecule with higher flexibility to exert its function at very low kinetic energy in the Antarctic environment.
In my seminar, I reconstruct the molecular origins and the remodeling processes of the preexisting ancestral gene that marked a sophisticated and unique evolutionary history of the Antarctic fish Ig genes.I also highlight how findings in the context of comparative immunology can inspire news ideas and approaches that could lead to the development of innovative diagnostic/therapeutic tools
Biography: Maria Rosaria Coscia is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (IBBC), CNR, Naples and currently Chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Immunology. She received her Master Degree in Biological Sciences with honors from the University of Naples Federico II in 1988. After a training in immunochemistry of pollen allergens at the Institute of Protein Biochemistry (IBP), CNR, Naples, she was a Guest Investigator in the laboratory of immunochemistry of insect venom allergens at the Rockefeller University, NYC (USA). In 1998 Maria Rosaria Coscia became Researcher at IBP.
She is co-founder and coordinator of the CNR Immunology Network (CIN) since 2016, serves as Board Member of the Italian Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunobiology (SIICS), since 2022. She is Member of the Scientific Board at the Department of Biomedical Sciences (DSB), CNR since 2023.
She has always been active in scientific and social initiatives aimed at disseminating immunology.
Maria Rosaria Coscia has a long-standing experience in the field of Comparative Immunology. Her main scientific interest is in studying the immune response of fish living in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. To study the adaptation to low temperature, her model system is provided by fishes of the suborder Notothenioidei, the most abundant fish taxon found in the Antarctic Ocean. She has investigated the genes encoding the immunoglobulins (Ig) and the polymeric Ig receptor, which is responsible for the transport of Ig across epithelial barriers. She disclosed, for the first time in cold adapted species, a peculiar gene locus architecture and signs of epigenetic regulation. Her group was also actively involved in defining the molecular structure of other molecules of immunological interest in teleosts, such as Toll-like receptors and the complement factor C3, by molecular dynamics simulations. Studies on cold adapted Igs inspired a new research line focused on the design and production of engineered high performance monoclonal antibodies, as innovative diagnostic/therapeutic tools, using the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. In recent years she started to investigate the effects of extreme environment on human immune response, by analyzing the relationship between altered stress reactivity and immune functions of volunteers in the long-term stay in Antarctica.
