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Cycles of heat and aerial-exposure induce changes in the transcriptome related to cell regulation and metabolism in Mytilus californianus

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Abstract

The intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus is subjected to thermal and oxygen cycles due to fluctuations of the tidal cycle. Mussels that reside in high-shore microenvironments experience extended periods of aerial-exposure and greater thermal challenges than low-shore populations. In this study, we investigated the combined effect of daily extended periods of aerial-exposure and midday thermal events on the physiology of mussels by monitoring transcriptome-wide gene expression in a simulated tidal environment. Mussels were acclimated to aerial-exposure for 20 h a day combined with a simulated midday solar heating event of + 8 °C. Results revealed that 11% of the transcriptome exhibited robust patterns of rhythmic gene expression. Two broad sets of genes were induced, including one that was upregulated during the daytime thermal stress period and another following the 4-h evening high-tide. The daytime thermal stress associated gene set was enriched for genes related to cellular regulatory pathways such as those that encode transcription factors while genes expressed following evening submergence varied in functional theme. Additionally, genes related to energy metabolism were also upregulated during warming periods of the tidal cycle. Comparing these data to published data from a previous tidal simulation study revealed that acclimation to daily heat stress yielded a muted transcriptional response to heat compared to an acute response observed in mussels maintained under isothermal conditions. These results indicate that M. californianus displays phenotypic plasticity with respect to transcriptomic expression and that this trait likely promotes homeostasis in the intertidal environment.

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Data availability

The datasets during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Helen Hong and Emily Bryant at the University of California, Irvine for manuscript preparation and the University of Southern California for use of facilities.

Funding

This research was supported by National Science Foundation Award (IOS 0745451) to Andrew Y. Gracey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Kwasi Connor

  2. Department of Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Andrew Y. Gracey

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  1. Kwasi Connor
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Correspondence to Kwasi Connor.

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Kwasi Connor declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Andrew Y. Gracey declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

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Supplementary material 1 (PDF 280 kb)

227_2020_3750_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx

SI Table 1. List of transcripts that represent Daytime-stress gene expression. SI Table 2. List of transcripts that represent Nighttime-recovery gene expression. SI Table 3. List of unique Daytime-stress genes and Nighttime-recovery genes. SI Table 4. List of significant GSEA gene sets associated with Daytime stress and Nighttime recovery. (XLSX 80 kb)

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Connor, K., Gracey, A.Y. Cycles of heat and aerial-exposure induce changes in the transcriptome related to cell regulation and metabolism in Mytilus californianus. Mar Biol 167, 132 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03750-6

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