article_snippet.sent: In fact, reports indicate that the Gulf seafood industry, which supplies the United States with roughly 40% of its seafood, is finally starting to rebound.
article_snippet.sent: One of the populations that can provide insight into these questions is the Gulf crab.
article_snippet.sent: Crabs play an important role in the region: Roughly 60 million pounds were fished in the Gulf in 2012, earning tens of millions in revenue.
article_snippet.sent: Researchers documented substantial differences in appearance, and deformities in crabs that were affected by the spill including lesions so numerous they ate through the joints, forcing limbs to fall off.
article_snippet.sent: These traits have affected not only the crabs' market value but also likely These traits ability to survive.
article_snippet.sent: While these changes in outward appearance have dissipated in the short-term, the health of these crabs could still be precarious.
article_snippet.sent: I have been working with colleagues at Florida International University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette to better understand what might be happening biologically inside the Gulf crab when the Gulf crab is exposed to oil and the dispersant used to respond to the spill.
article_snippet.sent: Using the power of genomics and computational biology, we analyzed the genes of flat back mud crabs that were exposed to oil from the Macondo Prospect where the Deepwater Horizon rig was drilling when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded or to a combination of oil and dispersant in the lab.
article_snippet.sent: By studying gene expression, the process that turns information from a gene into a product that functions within a cell, we searched for indicators that might signal exposure to oil and, based on the types of changes we might see, clues as to how the crabs respond.
article_snippet.sent: Although we are still in the early stages of we research, we are seeing significant differences in gene expression connected to exposure -- meaning the crabs are turning some genes on or off in response to oil and dispersant.
article_snippet.sent: It's not just Gulf crabs that are experiencing changes.
highlights_snippet.sent: A crab species may be a key indicator of the impact, Keith Crandall says .