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) 是世界上升温最快的水域之一，对其海洋居民构成严重的生理挑战。海洋生物可以通过基因表达的变化来应对气候变化造成的细胞和分子压力。我们使用转录组学来检查在幼虫发育过程中暴露于当前夏季温度（16°C）或反映预计中度和严重变暖条件（分别为 18°C 和 22°C）的温度状态如何改变与细胞应激相关的转录物的表达美洲龙虾 ( Homarus americanus ) 的反应 (CSR)）。我们鉴定了 26 个显着差异表达 (DE) 的转录本，注释为 CSR 蛋白。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转录物在相对于当前条件较高温度饲养的龙虾中显着过度表达。在 18 °C 和 22 °C 饲养的虾苗之间 CSR 表达的显着差异表明，在严重变暖下饲养的虾苗应对海洋变暖的生理和分子挑战的能力可能受到阻碍。这些结果表明，随着墨西哥湾的持续快速变暖，美洲龙虾幼体可能会经历显着的热应激，可能会损害它们防止细胞损伤和抑制细胞能量重新分配到除激活 CSR 之外的其他生理功能的能力。此外，这项研究建立了额外的美国龙虾压力标记，并解决了甲壳类动物生物学中的各种知识空白，在这些空白处，缺乏足够的“组学研究”。