PROTEOMIC RESPONSE OF EARLY JUVENILE PACIFIC OYSTERS TO TEMPERATURE

The shellfish aquaculture industry provides a sustainable food source and jobs for a growing population. Oysters are the primary aquaculture species produced in the United States and account for a significant portion of seafood exports. Shellfish hatcheries have been experiencing frequent mass mortality events over the last couple of decades that occur approximately 10-14 days after oyster settlement. Settlement is a process that shellfish such as oysters undergo in which they transform from a free-swimming pelagic larvae to a sessile juvenile oyster. In order for this energy-intensive process to be successful, the oyster has to undergo behavioral and morphological changes. This is a vulnerable period in the oyster life cycle and conditions need to be such that they aren’t creating added stress. However, due to the oysters’ vulnerability, this is often a time when bacterial infections can occur, which when occurring with environmental conditions that are unfavorable, can prove to be fatal. In order to help oysters survive this process, scientists at the Taylor Shellfish Hatchery in Quilcene, WA has experimented with altering abiotic and biotic factors such as algal diet densities, pH, water flow rate, among others. At this hatchery, Pacific oysters are typically reared at 23˚C, however preliminary research results have suggested that oysters may have a higher survival rate when held at 29˚C during the settlement period. This pilot experiment attempts to identify differences in protein expression between oyster seed held at 23˚C and 29˚C during the settlement period using novel proteomic technology. Our proteomic results, paired with survival data, suggest that holding oyster seed at 29˚C during the settlement period results in higher survival rates.