title: Thermal stress induces a distinct transcriptome profile in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas.
abstract: Oysters are frequently subjected to heat stress during tidal emersion/immersion cycles in their habitats due to attachment on the rocky shore. To understand the effect of temperature elevation on the whole transcriptome over time, the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas was exposed to seawater temperature 32°C for 72h from the control 20°C. RNA-seq identified differentially expressed stress responsive transcripts upon thermal stress in the gill tissues of C. gigas. The primary effect of heat stress appears to be significantly induced transcription of molecular chaperones, including members of the heat shock protein (hsp) families, while genes typically associated with protein metabolism, such as those involved in protein degradation (e.g. ATP-dependent proteolysis pathway) and biosynthesis (e.g. ribosomal protein genes), were repressed. In particular, several hsp70 isoforms and a small hsp20 maintained prolonged mRNA expressions for 72h. This study provides preliminary insights into the molecular response of C. gigas to heat stress and suggests a basis for future studies examining molecular adaptation or thermotolerance metabolism in the Pacific oyster.
authors.affiliation: West Sea Fisheries Research Institute, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Incheon 22383, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Jeong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon 21990, South Korea.
authors.forename: Bo-Mi
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: West Sea Fisheries Research Institute, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Incheon 22383, South Korea.
authors.forename: In Joon
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: National Instrumentation Center for Environmental Management, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: National Instrumentation Center for Environmental Management, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea; Department of Agricultural Industry, Center for Lifelong Learning, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, South Korea. Electronic address: ikyoung02@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ik-Young
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, South Korea. Electronic address: duckyj@inu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Youn-Jung
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, South Korea. Electronic address: jsrhee@inu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jae-Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rhee
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D049896:Crassostrea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013696:Temperature; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: Crassostrea gigas; Oyster; Temperature; Thermal stress; Transcriptome