Abstract
Blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) are ecologically and economically important marine invertebrates whose populations are at risk from climate change-associated variation in their environment, such as decreased coastal salinity. Blue mussels are osmoconfomers and use components of the metabolome (free amino acids) to help maintain osmotic balance and cellular function during low salinity exposure. However, little is known about the capacity of blue mussels during the planktonic larval stages to regulate metabolites during osmotic stress. Metabolite studies in species such as blue mussels can help improve our understanding of the species’ physiology, as well as their capacity to respond to environmental stress. We used 1D 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and 2D total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) experiments to describe baseline metabolite pools in larval (veliger and pediveliger stages) and juvenile blue mussels (gill, mantle, and adductor tissues) under ambient conditions and to quantify changes in the abundance of common osmolytes in these stages during low salinity exposure. We found evidence for stage- and tissue-specific differences in the baseline metabolic profiles of blue mussels, which reflect variation in the function and morphology of each larval stage or tissue type of juveniles. These differences impacted the utilization of osmolytes during low salinity exposure, likely stemming from innate physiological variation. This study highlights the importance of foundational metabolomic studies that include multiple tissue types and developmental stages to adequately evaluate organismal responses to stress and better place these findings in a broader physiological context.
Highlights
The blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) is an important marine species that is commonly found in intertidal and subtidal habitats of the temperate and sub-boreal regions of the North Atlantic.Ecologically, M. edulis is considered a foundational species, as it provides habitat and structure within coastal ecosystems [1]
We confirmed the identity of 16 of these 99 metabolites (Table 1) using information obtained from the 2D total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) data (Figure 1)
This study contributes to our understanding of the metabolic baselines of veliger and pediveliger larvae and highlights important biochemical differences in the free amino acids (FAA) pools of various tissues of post-metamorphic M. edulis
Summary
The blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) is an important marine species that is commonly found in intertidal and subtidal habitats of the temperate and sub-boreal regions of the North Atlantic.Ecologically, M. edulis is considered a foundational species, as it provides habitat and structure within coastal ecosystems [1]. The blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) is an important marine species that is commonly found in intertidal and subtidal habitats of the temperate and sub-boreal regions of the North Atlantic. Mussels are of importance because they are commercially fished and cultured and commonly used in environmental monitoring programs [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Any factor that threatens the health of mussel populations poses a risk for other species within the community and impacts the quality of mussels as food sources or as bioindicators. Given the increasing pace of environmental change, there is substantial interest in the physiological tolerances of M. edulis and the effects of environmental stress on the persistence of blue mussel populations e.g., [8,9,10].
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