Molecular and behavioral mechanisms of circatidal biological rhythms in intertidal mollusks ...

• Main Author: Lin, Jacqueline author
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Southern California Digital Library (USC.DL) 2020
• Subjects: Biology Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography degree program; Doctor of Philosophy degree; College of Letters, Arts and Sciences school; Pacific; Crassostrea gigas; Pacific oyster
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-68145; https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1W4H32K

The marine intertidal zone is a regularly-changing environment, oscillating between very different conditions during high tide versus low tide. Since the ebb and flow of the tide is a regular temporal occurrence associated with highly contrasting environmental conditions, it follows that intertidal organisms should have a dedicated, endogenous time-keeping mechanism that aids in anticipating these environmental fluctuations and making the appropriate physiological changes. As a first step in elucidating the molecular mechanism of the circatidal clock, we sought to identify a set of candidate genes likely to be involved in the central oscillator in California ribbed mussel Mytilus californianus and Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. Our previous work has shown that M. californianus exhibit circatidal gene expression rhythms while exposed to simulated intertidal conditions, as well as intertidal and subtidal conditions in the field. If any of those rhythmic genes are under the control of the circatidal clock, ...