Data from: The role of ontogeny in physiological tolerance: decreasing hydrostatic pressure tolerance with development in the northern stone crab Lithodes maja

Extant deep-sea invertebrate fauna represent both ancient and recent
invasions from shallow-water habitats. Hydrostatic pressure may present a
significant physiological challenge to organisms seeking to colonize
deeper waters or migrate ontogenetically. Pressure may be a key factor
contributing to bottlenecks in the radiation of taxa and potentially drive
speciation. Here, we assess shifts in the tolerance of hydrostatic
pressure through early ontogeny of the northern stone crab Lithodes maja,
which occupies a depth range of 4–790 m in the North Atlantic. The zoea I,
megalopa and crab I stages were exposed to hydrostatic pressures up to
30.0 MPa (equivalent of 3000 m depth), and the relative fold change of
genes putatively coding for the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-regulated
protein 1 (narg gene), two heat-shock protein 70 kDa (HSP70) isoforms and
mitochondrial Citrate Synthase (CS gene) were measured. This study finds a
significant increase in the relative expression of the CS and hsp70a genes
with increased hydrostatic pressure in the zoea I stage, and an increase
in the relative expression of all genes with increased hydrostatic
pressure in the megalopa and crab I stages. Transcriptional responses are
corroborated by patterns in respiratory rates in response to hydrostatic
pressure in all stages. These results suggest a decrease in the acute
high-pressure tolerance limit as ontogeny advances, as reflected by a
shift in the hydrostatic pressure at which significant differences are
observed.