Contrasting transcriptome response to thermal stress in two key zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis

I Smolina,P Lindeque,AYM Sundaram,S Kollias,JMO Fernandes,G Hoarau,EF Møller

doi:10.3354/meps11398

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 534:79-93 (2015) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11398 Contrasting transcriptome response to thermal stress in two key zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis Irina Smolina1,*, Spyros Kollias1, Eva F. Møller2, Penelope Lindeque3, Arvind Y. M. Sundaram4, Jorge M. O. Fernandes1, Galice Hoarau1 1Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, University of Nordland, 8049 Bodø, Norway 2Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark 3Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, West Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK 4Norwegian Sequencing Centre, Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Kirkeveien 166, 0407 Oslo, Norway *Corresponding author: ism@uin.no ABSTRACT: Climate change has already led to the range expansion of warm-water plankton assemblages in the northeast Atlantic and the corresponding range contraction of colder-water species. The temperate copepod Calanus finmarchicus is predicted to shift farther northward into polar waters traditionally dominated by the arctic copepod C. glacialis. To identify temperature-mediated changes in gene expression that may be critical for the thermal acclimation and resilience of the 2 Calanus spp., we conducted a whole transcriptome profiling using RNA-seq on an Ion Torrent platform. Transcriptome responses of C. finmarchicus and C. glacialis from Disko Bay, west Greenland, were investigated under realistic thermal stresses (at +5, +10 and +15°C) for 4 h and 6 d. C. finmarchicus showed a strong response to temperature and duration of stress, involving up-regulation of genes related to protein folding, transcription, translation and metabolism. In sharp contrast, C. glacialis displayed only low-magnitude changes in gene expression in response to temperature and duration of stress. Differences in the thermal responses of the 2 species, particularly the lack of thermal stress response in C. glacialis, are in line with laboratory and field observations and suggest a vulnerability of C. glacialis to climate change. KEY WORDS: RNA-seq · Copepods · Temperature stress response · Heat shock protein · Climate change Full text in pdf format Supplement 1 Supplement 2 PreviousNextCite this article as: Smolina I, Kollias S, Møller EF, Lindeque P, Sundaram AYM, Fernandes JMO, Hoarau G (2015) Contrasting transcriptome response to thermal stress in two key zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 534:79-93. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11398 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 534. Online publication date: August 27, 2015 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2015 Inter-Research.

Highlights

Climate change profoundly impacts both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, ranging from biogeographical and phenological changes to abrupt ecosystem shifts (Thackeray et al 2008, Beaugrand et al 2009)
During the thermal experiments aimed at comparing the transcriptome responses of Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis to elevated temperatures, maximum mortality of 20 and 35% was observed for the 2 species, respectively, at 15°C during long-term thermal stress (LTS)
Fecal pellet production during STS significantly increased with temperature for C. finmarchicus until 10°C and plateaued at 15°C (Fig. S2 in Supplement 1 at www.int-res.com/articles/suppl/ m534p079_supp.pdf), while for C. glacialis it was significantly higher at 5 and 10°C compared to 0°C and decreased at 15°C (Fig. S2 in Supplement 1)

Summary

Introduction

Climate change profoundly impacts both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, ranging from biogeographical and phenological changes to abrupt ecosystem shifts (Thackeray et al 2008, Beaugrand et al 2009). The northward shift of C. finmarchicus is predicted to continue into Arctic waters currently dominated by C. glacialis and C. hyperboreus (Helaouët et al 2011, Wassmann et al 2011). Despite an extensive knowledge of the ecology and phenology of these 2 species, the molecular basis of physiological responses ( changes in gene expression) to increased water temperature remains largely unexplored. This impairs our understanding of species performance, abundance and distribution in a changing climate, and reduces our power to predict climate-related shifts in ecosystem structure and function

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