Seawater carbonate chemistry and gene expression of a reef fish Acanthochromis polyacanthus

• Main Authors: Schunter, Celia, Welch, Megan J, Nilsson, Göran E, Rummer, Jodie L, Munday, Philip L, Ravasi, Timothy
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2018
• Subjects: Acanthochromis polyacanthus; Alkalinity; total; standard deviation; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Chordata; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); EXP; Experiment; Figure; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Gene expression; Gene expression (incl. proteomics); Gene name; Great_Barrier_Reef_OA; Laboratory experiment; Nekton; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; Registration number of species; Salinity; Single species; South Pacific; Species; Temperature; water; Pacific; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.900202; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.900202

The impacts of ocean acidification will depend on the ability of marine organisms to tolerate, acclimate and eventually adapt to changes in ocean chemistry. Here, we use a unique transgenerational experiment to determine the molecular response of a coral reef fish to short-term, developmental and transgenerational exposure to elevated CO2, and to test how these responses are influenced by variations in tolerance to elevated CO2 exhibited by the parents. Within-generation responses in gene expression to end-of-century predicted CO2 levels indicate that a self-amplifying cycle in GABAergic neurotransmission is triggered, explaining previously reported neurological and behavioural impairments. Furthermore, epigenetic regulator genes exhibited a within-generation specific response, but with some divergence due to parental phenotype. Importantly, we find that altered gene expression for the majority of within-generation responses returns to baseline levels following parental exposure to elevated CO2 conditions. Our results show that both parental variation in tolerance and cross-generation exposure to elevated CO2 are crucial factors in determining the response of reef fish to changing ocean chemistry.