Transcriptional responses to long-term salinity stress in Mytilus galloprovincialis

The black mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is an ideal organism for studying adaptation as it inhabits highly variable environments. The presented work examines genes and mechanisms recruited in acclimation of M. galloprovincialis to gradual long-term salinity change within tolerable limits for the species with de novo transcriptome assembly, expression profiling, and enrichment analyses. By applying salinity increase, acclimation, and decrease through a time-series designed experiment, we intended to better understand the expression plasticity. Our results elucidated the most important processes and genes involved in the long-term osmostress response of this species.