Research Associate Professor, Department of Biology
College of Charleston, Charleston SC
Ph.D., University of South Carolina
burnettk@cofc.edu
Effect of natural and anthropogenic stressors on marine invertebrate immune function. As human populations increase in coastal areas, the contact of humans with coastal waters and the organisms that live in those waters also increases. Natural stressors, (low pH, low dissolved oxygen, high temperature) and stressors that result from human impacts on the coastal (heavy metals, organics, pesticides) can impact normal functions of the immune system in vertebrates (fish) and invertebrates (shrimp and oysters), thereby increasing their susceptibility to infectious disease. These organisms can, in turn, act as vectors for human disease. In collaboration with Dr. Lou Burnett, members of our laboratory have developed challenge models of infectious disease in fish, shrimp and oysters and are using these models to determine how stressors interfere with normal mechanisms of pathogen clearance and killing. We have hypothesized that many stressors modulate the process of signal transduction in cells of the immune system. Therefore, we are studying the receptors normally used for pathogen recognition and the molecular pathways that trigger the cellular immune response. For example, recent studies have shown that sublethal levels of hypoxia increase the susceptibility of the shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, to infection by the environmental pathogen, Vibrio parahaemolyticus. On-going investigations by graduate student researchers in our laboratory focus on those pathways involved in bacterial recognition and killing by hemocytes that may be most sensitive to oxygen pressures. Additional projects are examining the role of the crustacean gill as an organ of immune function and the development of multi-antibiotic resistance in bacterial flora associated with shrimp and oysters. Further information regarding current and past research activities in our laboratory can be found at http://www.cofc.edu/~burnettk
Publications:
Boleza, K.A., Burnett, L.E. and Burnett, K.G. 2001.
Hypercapnic hypoxia compromises bactericidal activity of fish anterior
kidney cells against opportunistic environmental pathogens. Fish &
Shellfish Immunol. 11:593-610.
Burnett, K.G. 2002. Recent advances in Marine Biotechnology.
Volume 5: Immunobiology and Pathology. (Review) Copeia 5:1165-1167.
Finkenbine, S.S., Gettys, T.W. and Burnett, K.G. 2002. Evidence
for beta-adrenergic receptors on leukocytes of the channel catfish,
Ictalurus punctatus. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. Part C. 131:27-37.
Burgents, J.E., Burnett, K.G., and Burnett, L.E. 2004. Disease
resistance of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, following the
dietary administration of a yeast culture food supplement. Aquaculture
231:1-8.
Burnett, K.G. 2005. Impacts of environmental toxicants and
natural variables on the on the immune system of fishes. In: (eds.
Mommsen, T. and Moon, T.) Biochemistry and Molecular biology of Fishes,
Vol 6, Environmental Toxicology. Elsevier Press., London.) pp. 231-253.
Holman, J.D., Burnett, K.G., and Burnett, L.E. 2004. Effects of
hypercapnic hypoxia on the clearance of Vibrio campbellii in the
Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun. Biol. Bull.
206:188-196.
Burgents, J.E., Burnett, L.E., and Burnett, K.G. 2005.
Localization and bacteriostasis of Vibrio introduced into the Pacific
white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Devel. Comp. Immunol. 29:681-691.
Burgents, J.E., Burnett, K.G, and Burnett, L.E. 2005. The effects
of hypoxia and hypercapnic hypoxia on the localization and the
elimination of Vibrio campbellii in the Pacific white shrimp,
Litopenaeus vannamei. Biol. Bull. 208:159-168.
Burnett, K.G. and Burnett, L.E. In press. The impacts of hypoxia
on disease resistance in crustaceans. In: Proceedings of the Second
Annual Fisheries and the Environment of the Russian Federation
Inter-Department Ichthyological Commission, the Russian Academy of
Sciences, the Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs of Russia -
Department of Fisheries, and the U.S. Department of the Interior
Meeting, September 2003.