College of the Environment, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA.
Maine Sea Grant College Program, University of Maine, 5741 Libby Hall, Room 121, Orono, ME, 04469, USA.
Cell Stress Chaperones. 2021 Jul;26(4):721-734. doi: 10.1007/s12192-021-01217-1. Epub 2021 Jun 11.
The Gulf of the Maine (GoM) is one of the fastest warming bodies of water in the world, posing serious physiological challenges to its marine inhabitants. Marine organisms can cope with the cellular and molecular stresses created by climate change through changes in gene expression. We used transcriptomics to examine how exposure to current summer temperatures (16 °C) or temperature regimes reflective of projected moderate and severe warming conditions (18 °C and 22 °C, respectively) during larval development alters expression of transcripts affiliated with the cellular stress response (CSR) in postlarval American lobsters (Homarus americanus). We identified 26 significantly differentially expressed (DE) transcripts annotated to CSR proteins. Specifically, transcripts for proteins affiliated with heat shock, the ubiquitin family, DNA repair, and apoptosis were significantly over-expressed in lobsters reared at higher temperatures relative to current conditions. Substantial variation in the CSR expression between postlarvae reared at 18 °C and those reared at 22 °C suggests that postlarvae reared under severe warming may have a hindered ability to cope with the physiological and molecular challenges of ocean warming. These results highlight that postlarval American lobsters may experience significant heat stress as rapid warming in the GoM continues, potentially compromising their ability to prevent cellular damage and inhibiting the reallocation of cellular energy towards other physiological functions beyond activation of the CSR. Moreover, this study establishes additional American lobster stress markers and addresses various knowledge gaps in crustacean biology, where sufficient 'omics research is lacking.
缅因湾（GoM）是世界上变暖速度最快的水体之一，对其海洋生物居民造成了严重的生理挑战。海洋生物可以通过基因表达的变化来应对气候变化引起的细胞和分子压力。我们使用转录组学来研究幼虫发育过程中暴露于当前夏季温度（16°C）或反映中度和重度变暖条件的温度范围（分别为 18°C 和 22°C）如何改变与细胞应激反应（CSR）相关的转录本的表达在幼龙虾（Homarus americanus）中。我们鉴定了 26 个与 CSR 蛋白相关的显着差异表达（DE）转录本。具体而言，与热休克、泛素家族、DNA 修复和细胞凋亡相关的蛋白质的转录本在温度较高的龙虾中显着过表达，与当前条件相比。在 18°C 和 22°C 条件下饲养的幼体之间 CSR 表达的大量变化表明，在严重变暖条件下饲养的幼体可能具有减弱的应对海洋变暖的生理和分子挑战的能力。这些结果表明，随着 GoM 的快速变暖，幼龙虾可能会经历显着的热应激，从而可能损害其防止细胞损伤的能力，并抑制细胞能量向 CSR 激活以外的其他生理功能重新分配。此外，这项研究确立了额外的美洲龙虾应激标志物，并解决了甲壳动物生物学中的各种知识差距，其中缺乏足够的“组学”研究。
