Acute effects of high pCO2 and hypoxia on gene expression in blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus)

We sequenced complementary DNA created from white muscle messenger RNA in juvenile blue rockfish and performed a differential gene expression analysis to describe the fishes' responses to the global change-related stressors of high pCO2 (low pH) and hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen, DO). To examine gene expression over ecologically realistic timescales that emulate the duration of spring upwelling events in the California Current ecosystem, we collected and sequenced samples after 12 h, 24 h and two weeks of exposure to four treatments: control (pH≈8.0, pCO2≈400μatm, DO≈8 mg/L), high pCO2 (pH≈7.6, pCO2≈1200μatm, DO≈8 mg/L), hypoxic (pH≈8.0, pCO2≈400μatm, DO≈4 mg/L), and combined high pCO2/hypoxic (pH≈7.6, pCO2≈1200μatm, DO≈4 mg/L). Differential gene expression analysis performed on blue rockfish muscle tissue after 12 h, 24 h and two weeks of exposure to high pCO2 and hypoxia