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Research

Michael Berenbrink is interested in the diversity of physiological mechanisms that animals employ in different environments or with different life-styles. The focus of his work is on the respiratory system of vertebrates, particularly the evolution of blood oxygen and carbon dioxide transport mechanisms and haemoglobin function.

Evolutionary reconstruction of myoglobin net surface charge in terrestrial and aquatic mammals. The figure reveals a molecular signature of elevated myoglobin net surface charge in all lineages of living elite mammalian divers with an extended aquatic history (upper silhouettes). This signature is used here to infer the diving capacity of extinct species representing stages during mammalian land-to-water transitions (†).

Physiological Genomics of Adaptive Blood Respiratory Gas Transport Mechanisms

Uptake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide and their efficient transport through the body are central to supporting life in complex organisms. Hence conditions impairing tissue oxygen supply, such as heart and lung disease and stroke, are among the leading causes of human death. However, vertebrates have evolved a wide array of blood respiratory gas transport mechanisms that support high metabolic rates in challenging environmental conditions. Yet, the molecular genetic underpinnings of adaptive oxygen transport mechanisms are poorly understood, despite their importance for (1) discovering targets for intervention in human and animal disease, (2) improving aquaculture and food security, and (3) adaptation to aquatic deoxygenation induced by climate-change.

Our research uses comparative analyses of physiological mechanisms to understand how vertebrates -from fishes to birds and mammals- to adapt to energetic lifestyles even in oxygen poor environments.
This approach allowed us to trace the evolution of superior diving ability across several diverse groups of mammals, from tiny water shrews to seals and the largest whales, and even giant extinct sea cows.BBC News - Science and Environment - video with Dr Michael Berenbrink

We have also discovered the molecular mechanism by which certain fish species such as goldfish can survive for prolonged periods even without any oxygen by producing alcohol as a metabolic end product.The Naked Scientists - Interview with Dr Michael Berenbrink

Our work frequently captures the imagination of the general public and is featured in international media, aiding in the public understanding of science. It is interdisciplinary in nature, combining physiological insights with genomic and structural analyses. This makes it particularly suitable for doctoral research, with both examples given above resulting from the work of PhD students

A phylogenetic tree of shrews, moles and allies, showing 5 groups that evolved molecular adaptations in their oxygen storing protein myoglobin that support a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Paintings of representative species by Umi Matsushita

Physiological Adaptations to Diving in Small Mammals

Small mammals have increased tissue oxygen needs and loose heat more quickly than larger mammals, which should make it much more difficult for species like water shrews to evolve an underwater diving lifestyle.

We have discovered a molecular mechanism that allows much higher concentrations of the oxygen-storing protein myoglobin in the muscles of mammals. By studying the genetic footprint of this mechanism in a large number of mammal species, we have revealed that no less than 5 groups of small, insect-eating mammals have independently evolved the ability for a semi-aquatic lifestyle. BBC News - Science and Environment

Earthworms are vital for healthy soils, but is their oxygen supply system at risk from increased flooding?

Sink or swim – does climate change-related flooding threaten the UK’s earthworm populations?

We are now also working on invertebrate oxygen transport systems, namely earthworm haemoglobin, in a collaboration with Prof. Mark Hodson from the University of York.

Earthworms are widely recognised as being beneficial to soil and ecosystems and are valued by gardeners and farmers alike. They can boost plant growth by up to 30% and may be responsible for 6.5% of global grain production. However, all is not rosy in the garden for earthworms. Our new project will investigate whether the increases in intensity, frequency and extent of flooding across the UK due to climate change will likely put these vitally important organisms at risk.

Earthworms breathe oxygen, just like us, but unlike us, they have no lungs; they ‘breathe’ across their skin. Once taken into their bodies, oxygen is transported by a giant version of the same protein that does this job in humans, haemoglobin. Earthworms can survive in water provided it contains enough oxygen; however, flooded soils can become oxygen-depleted within hours, and earthworms drown. We recently showed that the lowest oxygen concentrations at which earthworms can survive vary between species, but we do not know why. Is it because of differences in their haemoglobin? Or their ability to reduce their metabolism and hence oxygen demand to a minimum? As different species of earthworms affect soil properties differently, changes in earthworm communities due to variable survival in flooded soils could, in turn, impact soil health and food production.

But earthworms won’t just wait in the soil as the flood waters rise. Earthworms are sensitive to soil moisture content; as soils become wetter, they could move away to drier soil. So we will also investigate how wet a soil has to get before earthworms start moving to more favourable conditions and whether they can move fast enough to outpace the flood waters. If the worst happens and the earthworms drown, their cocoons (encased eggs) will still be in the soil. Once the flood waters recede, the cocoons could hatch, replenishing the earthworm population. Our study will, therefore, also determine whether reductions in soil oxygen concentrations during flooding damage the cocoons and reduce their hatching rate. Finally, we will use climate change models to predict changes in the frequency and duration of flooding in the UK over the next 50 to 100 years.

We will integrate the new knowledge generated by our project to produce earthworm flood risk maps that show the vulnerability of our all-important earthworm populations to climate change-driven changes in flood extent, frequency, and duration.

Research grants

Sink or swim – threats to earthworm diversity due to flooding

LEVERHULME TRUST (UK)

September 2024 - August 2026

Temperature sensitivity of oxygen transport in Atlantic cod

CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FISHERIES & AQUACULTURE SCIENCE (UK)

October 2011 - September 2015

Evolution of stress activated Na+, K+, Cl- cotransport in bird red blood cells.

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

March 2006 - May 2009

7th International Congress of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry - ICCPB

ROYAL SOCIETY (CHARITABLE)

August 2007

Convergent Evolution of Integrated Systems: Vertebrate Haemoglobins, their Intracellular Environment and Whole Animal Function.

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

February 2003 - February 2006

Historical reconstructions of evolving physiological complexity

ROYAL SOCIETY (CHARITABLE)

September 2006

    Research collaborations

    Prof. Mark Hodson

    University of York, U. K.

    Sink or swim – does climate change-related flooding threaten the UK’s earthworm populations? Combining field sampling, laboratory experiments and computer modelling, soil scientist Mark Hodson, environmental physiologist Michael Berenbrink and hydrologists Megan Klaar and Tom Willis will assess the risks of increased flooding to earthworm communities that are all-important for healthy soils.

    Prof. Kevin L. Campbell

    University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Evolutionary physiology of mammalian and avian respiratory proteins

    Prof. Jay F. Storz

    University of Nebraska, Lincoln, U. S. A.

    Evolutionary physiology of mammalian and avian respiratory proteins

    Dr Kelly R. Ross

    Evolutionary physiology of mammalian and avian respiratory proteins

    Prof. David Atkinson

    Integrative Approaches to Understanding Organismal Responses to Aquatic Deoxygenation and Climate Warming

    Prof. Göran E. Nilsson

    University of Oslo, Norway

    Molecular mechanism of ethanol production and anoxia survival in cyprinid fishes

    Prof. Andrew R. Cossins

    Applying analytical methods from Evolutionary Biology to Comparative Animal Physiology. Evolution of cold adaptation in vertebrates. Analysis of myoglobin function in non-muscle tissues. Fate of target genes after whole genome duplication events.

    Prof. Mikko Nikinmaa

    University of Turku, Finland

    Mechanism of sensing molecular oxygen in fish red blood cells and regulation of oxygen-sensitive membrane ion transport