The Molluscan Shell Secretome: Unlocking Calcium Pathways in a Changing World

This project aimed to better understand the molecular mechanisms which control shell secretion in two mollusc species, the Antarctic clam Laternula elliptica and the temperate blunt-gaper clam Mya truncata.The experiments in this project employed a shell-damage treatment. Non-lethal damage was inflicted to the shells in order to stimulate calcification pathways and hence repair the damage. Two species were investigated, as well three different age categories in L. elliptica. RNA was extracted from the mantle tissues of 78 L. elliptica and 30 M. truncata animals and used to generate a total of 108 cDNA libraries which were sequenced over 5 lanes on a Hi-Seq 2000 (dissected from each individual from directly under a drilled hole site or equivalent location in control animals, across the three mantle folds, snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at – 80°C prior to RNA extraction).We envisage the huge amount of sequence data available here will be of use to the mollusc community, primarily for the purpose of studying biomineralisation, ageing and stress in Antarctic versus temperate animals, but also has potential application in immunology, phylogeny and any other biological process of interest in the mantle tissue.