Revealing the genetic underpinnings of developmental plasticity and acute thermal responses in the coastal copepod, Acartia tonsa
Conference Year
2024
Abstract
Developmental plasticity can play an important role in marine invertebrate thermal tolerance. To understand the genomic basis of this observation, we characterized the transcriptomic response to elevated developmental temperature and subsequent acute exposure to two higher temperatures using the copepod Acartia tonsa. We observed massive baseline gene expression differences between developmental treatment groups, however following acute exposure we observed a largely shared transcriptomic response. We found that genes involved in mitochondrial function were associated with variation in a thermal tolerance trait. These results suggest that differences in developmental temperature drive differences in gene expression that underlie variation in thermal tolerance.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Melissa Pespeni
Status
Graduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Biology
Primary Research Category
Life Sciences
Revealing the genetic underpinnings of developmental plasticity and acute thermal responses in the coastal copepod, Acartia tonsa
Developmental plasticity can play an important role in marine invertebrate thermal tolerance. To understand the genomic basis of this observation, we characterized the transcriptomic response to elevated developmental temperature and subsequent acute exposure to two higher temperatures using the copepod Acartia tonsa. We observed massive baseline gene expression differences between developmental treatment groups, however following acute exposure we observed a largely shared transcriptomic response. We found that genes involved in mitochondrial function were associated with variation in a thermal tolerance trait. These results suggest that differences in developmental temperature drive differences in gene expression that underlie variation in thermal tolerance.