Jules Rodriguez, a rising junior at the University of Rhode Island, is researching the Queen Caribbean Snapper to determine the potential existence of a “cryptic species,” a group of species that are morphologically identical to each other but belong to different species, within the current description of the species.
“Our samples are from Puerto Rico. It’s basically a deep water species of fish that has become very important in Puerto Rico’s fishing industry,’ says Jules, a marine biology major.
Jules is working under Dr. Carlos Prada, assistant professor of biological sciences at URI. As a person of Puerto Rican descent, they are proud to develop research that could help communities there be more aware of the Queen Snapper population.
“The project also hits close to home because half of my family is Puerto Rican,” they say. “Being able to work with samples from a place my family is from and then potentially having my work change policy in a place that's sort of like home is really gratifying.”
Overfishing can pose a threat to this specific species, and Jules' research may help bring awareness to fishermen in Puerto Rico in distinguishing the genetic differences between the two species to prevent overfishing.
“I am looking at both morphological and genetic differences,” says Jules, by “comparing pictures that were given to me by the Prada lab when they went to Puerto Rico previously, specifically their caudal fins, whether the dorsal or ventral (top or bottom) lengths of the fins are equal with each other. I'm seeing if those differences in the tail shape match up with the genetic differences to sort of come up with a conclusion as to whether these are two separate species.”
For Jules, understanding basic lab processes such as DNA extraction and PCR amplification have been the most notable aspect of the summer research as they will carry these experiences with them through the rest of their career. For reference, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is a universal method used to make copies of a specific DNA sample. This will allow Jules to distinguish the particular type of fish species.
“The project also hits close to home because half of my family is Puerto Rican. Being able to work with samples from a place my family is from and then potentially having my work change policy in a place that's sort of like home is really gratifying.” -Jules Rodriguez, 2021 SURF
Working in the Prada lab with the help of Dr. Diana Beltran and Margaret Shedl at the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences (CBLS) on URI’s Kingston Campus, Jules begins the four-hour process of going from tissue to pure DNA.
Jules begins by cutting a small amount of the tissue sample and extracting it’s DNA and running it through a PCR test. Once that is done, Jules prepares the sample for the refinement process for DNA sequencing at URI’s Gene Sequencing Center.
“I’m doing extraction of the tissue and running PCR on it and then sequencing the DNA fragments, which will show me the differences for some key genes that will show whether it is a different species or not,” they say.
Although Jules' initial project last summer was canceled due to COVID-19, they find this year’s research equally important.
“Ultimately, I think it’s really important because it can affect policy in the long run of species that are fished in Puerto Rico,” says Jules. “ It’s really interesting to have this project potentially affect policy somewhere else to help the biodiversity so that they’re not overfishing one of the species when they think it’s the same one.”
This story was written by Ciara French, a 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) for the Rhode Island Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment, Innovation, and Modeling. She is a rising senior at the University of Rhode Island majoring in biomedical engineering.
This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement #OIA-1655221. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.