Seawater carbonate chemistry and gene expression stability of Hong Kong oyster (Crassostrea hongkongensis)

• Main Authors: Dang, Xin, Noor, Zohaib, He, Yuanqiu, Lim, Yong-Kian, Zhang, Yang, Yu, Ziniu, Thiyagarajan, Vengatesen
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2022
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Beihai_OA; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); EXP; Experiment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Gene expression (incl. proteomics); Gene name; Laboratory experiment; Magallana hongkongensis; Mollusca; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); pH; Salinity; Single species; Species; unique identification; unique identification (Semantic URI); unique identification (URI); Stability; Temperature; water; Treatment; Tropical; Type; Pacific; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.945551; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.945551

The increase of CO2 by anthropogenic activities leads to a decrease of pH in the ocean surface due to ocean acidification (OA) process. Generally, OA not only reduces the rate of calcification in marine environments but also affects various physiological activities, especially in calcifiers, including edible oysters. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) is often used to detect gene expression in response to OA, which relies on the stability of internal control. However, the appropriate internal controls for OA experiments remain scarce especially in the marine calcifiers. Hence, this study developed internal controls for qRT-PCR assays using the Hong Kong oyster (Crassostrea hongkongensis) as a model to reveal gene expression profile during development under OA. In this study, 17 housekeeping genes were selected as the possible candidate of the internal controls. After a comprehensive interpretation from the multiple algorithms and software, GAPDH paired with RL23 is recommended for the normalization for planktonic larvae and benthic juveniles, but beyond that, TUBB and EF2 are recommended for post-metamorphic stage. Moreover, GAPDH and EF2 were suitable for various pH treatments, and TUBB, RL35 and RL23 could be the alternatives for OA experiments. These results are instrumental for the selection of internal control in Crassostrea hongkongensis during the development, and shed light on other molecular OA experiments in marine invertebrates for reference.