Mytilus transcriptome or gill and adductor muscle tissue

In the Gulf of Maine the rocky intertidal the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis is one of the most important ecosystem engineers in these communities. Mytillids have been the subject of numerous physiological and ecological studies showing both their ecological dominance and a wide range of physiological adaptations related to surviving in the steep environmental gradients of the littoral zone. There is also little doubt that global climate change (GCC), and its effects on multiple ecosystems, is occurring at unprecedented rates in the Gulf of Maine. In a world of continuing GCC related changes where multiple environmental factors vary simultaneously we need to be able to quantify the underlying physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that lead to emergent properties of the organism (e.g., growth, reproduction, mortality) in key species like intertidal mussels, and put the results into the ecological context of GCC. Here we provide transcriptomic resources for both the gill and adductor muscle of blue mussels from the Gulf of Maine. These transcriptomes can be used to test important hypotheses on gene regulation, phenotypic plasticity, mechanisms of physiological resilience and local adaptation in response to climate change stressors (i.e., thermal stress and ocean acidification).