Publication Date:
2019-07-16
Description:
Marine organisms have to cope with increasing
CO2 partial pressures and decreasing pH in the oceans. We
elucidated the impacts of an 8-week acclimation period to
four seawater pCO2 treatments (39, 113, 243 and 405 Pa/385,
1,120, 2,400 and 4,000 µatm) on mantle gene expression patterns
in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis from the Baltic Sea.
Based on the M. edulis mantle tissue transcriptome, the
expression of several genes involved in metabolism, calcification
and stress responses was assessed in the outer (marginal
and pallial zone) and the inner mantle tissues (central
zone) using quantitative real-time PCR. The expression of
genes involved in energy and protein metabolism (F-ATPase,
hexokinase and elongation factor alpha) was strongly
affected by acclimation to moderately elevated CO2 partial
pressures. Expression of a chitinase, potentially important for
the calcification process, was strongly depressed (maximum
ninefold), correlating with a linear decrease in shell growth
observed in the experimental animals. Interestingly, shell
matrix protein candidate genes were less affected by CO2 in
both tissues. A compensatory process toward enhanced shell
protection is indicated by a massive increase in the expression
of tyrosinase, a gene involved in periostracum formation
(maximum 220-fold). Using correlation matrices and a force-directed
layout network graph, we were able to uncover possible
underlying regulatory networks and the connections
between different pathways, thereby providing a molecular
basis of observed changes in animal physiology in response
to ocean acidification.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
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