Seawater carbonate chemistry and gene function and transposon activity of juvenile subarctic crustacean@en

In this study, we used functional genomics to examine the molecular response of OA exposed red king crab. We leveraged juveniles that were exposed to (and tolerated) three carbonate chemistry treatments from hatching to the first crab stage (C1), thus capturing transcriptional differences among crab that are reared in historically ambient conditions along the Bering Sea shelf (pH 8.0), and those acclimated to a moderately (pH 7.8) and severely (pH 7.5) acidified environments that are projected to occur in surface and bottom waters by the end of this century [15]. Using RNA-Seq, a high-throughput sequencing approach that measures gene-activity, our study provides a snap-shot of system-wide changes in energy allocation due to acidification exposure by identifying genes, their functions, and biological processes that differ in OA-reared crab [56]. Libraries were constructed from at least 13 individuals per treatment, rather than pools of individuals which can obscure genotypedependent variation. Importantly, since the crab used in this experiment were quite tolerant of OA conditions, the molecular mechanisms and pathways described here may be potentially critical to survival in an acidified environment.本研究采用功能基因组学技术，探究经海洋酸化（OA, Ocean Acidification）暴露的红帝王蟹的分子响应。我们选取了从孵化至第一期幼蟹阶段（C1）期间即暴露于并耐受三种碳酸盐化学梯度处理的幼体，由此可对比在白令海陆架历史背景环境（pH 8.0）下饲养的螃蟹，与驯化适应于中度（pH 7.8）、重度（pH 7.5）酸化环境的螃蟹之间的转录水平差异；上述酸化环境为预计至本世纪末将在表层及底层水体中出现的环境[15]。本研究采用可检测基因活性的高通量测序技术RNA-Seq，通过鉴定经OA暴露饲养的螃蟹中表达存在差异的基因、其功能及参与的生物学过程，全面呈现了酸化暴露所引发的全系统能量分配变化[56]。本研究的测序文库均由每个处理组至少13个独立个体构建，而非混合样本——混合样本会掩盖基因型依赖的个体变异。值得注意的是，由于本实验所用的红帝王蟹对OA条件具有较强耐受性，本文所阐述的分子机制与信号通路，或对其在酸化环境中的生存具有关键作用。