Transcriptome response to thermal stress in two key zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus and C. Glacialis

• Main Authors: Smolina, I., Kollias, S., Møller, Eva Friis, Lindeque, P., Hoarau, G. G.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Calanus finmarchicus; Subarctic; Zooplankton; Copepods
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/transcriptome-response-to-thermal-stress-in-two-key-zooplankton-species-calanus-finmarchicus-and-c-glacialis(c2d744e7-75e9-42f9-b455-9f140332c8ac).html; http://sgmeet.com/osm2014

Copepods of the genus Calanus are key zooplankton species in subarctic and arctic marine food webs. As a response to ocean warming, a northward movement of warm-water Calanus species has been detected. A further northward shift of C. finmarchicus is predicted into arctic waters traditionally dominated by C. glacialis . Temperature-mediated shifts in gene expression may be critical in thermal acclimation. Thus, in order to identify genes associated with thermal stress in Calanus spp. on a genome-wide scale, we conducted a whole transcriptome profiling using RNA-Seq. Samples of C. finmarchicus and C. glacialis from Greenland were subjected to heat stress (+5C and +10C) for 4 hours and 6 days. Total RNA was extracted from animals under the different experimental conditions and the transcriptome was sequenced on an Ion Torrent. Sequencing of transcriptome libraries of C. finmarchicus and C. glacialis resulted in 4,894,166 and 3,412,784 reads respectively. Difference in the thermal responses of the two species is linked to acclimatory potential to ocean warming and possible changes in the marine communities.