title: Assembly of a reference transcriptome for the gymnosome pteropod Clione limacina and profiling responses to short-term CO2exposure.
abstract: The gymnosome (unshelled) pteropod Clione limacina is a pelagic predatory mollusc found in polar and sub-polar regions. It has been studied for its distinctive swimming behavior and as an obligate predator on the closely related thecosome (shelled) pteropods. As concern about ocean acidification increases, it becomes useful to compare the physiological responses of closely-related calcifying and non-calcifying species to acidification. The goals of this study were thus to generate a reference transcriptome for Clione limacina, to expose individuals to CO2for a period of 3days, and to explore differential patterns of gene expression. Our Trinity assembly contained 300,994 transcripts of which ~26% could be annotated. In total, only 41 transcripts were differentially expressed following the CO2treatment, consistent with a limited physiological response of this species to short-term CO2exposure. The differentially expressed genes identified in our study were largely distinct from those identified in previous studies of thecosome pteropods, although some similar transcripts were identified, suggesting that comparison of these transcriptomes and responses may provide insight into differences in responses to ocean acidification among phylogenetically and functionally distinct molluscan lineages.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States; Zoology Dept., Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University in Assiut, Assiut, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ali A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Thabet
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States; Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, St. George's GE01, Bermuda.
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Maas
authors.affiliation: Zoology Dept., Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Samy A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Saber
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States. Electronic address: atarrant@whoi.edu.
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tarrant
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D049852:Clione / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: Gene expression; Invertebrate; Mollusc; Next generation sequencing; Ocean acidification; Zooplankton