Seawater carbonate chemistry and gene function and transposon activity of juvenile subarctic crustacean

In this study, we used functional genomics to examine the molecular response of OA exposed red king crab. We leveraged juveniles that were exposed to (and tolerated) three carbonate chemistry treatments from hatching to the first crab stage (C1), thus capturing transcriptional differences among crab that are reared in historically ambient conditions along the Bering Sea shelf (pH 8.0), and those acclimated to a moderately (pH 7.8) and severely (pH 7.5) acidified environments that are projected to occur in surface and bottom waters by the end of this century [15]. Using RNA-Seq, a high-throughput sequencing approach that measures gene-activity, our study provides a snap-shot of system-wide changes in energy allocation due to acidification exposure by identifying genes, their functions, and biological processes that differ in OA-reared crab [56]. Libraries were constructed from at least 13 individuals per treatment, rather than pools of individuals which can obscure genotypedependent variation. Importantly, since the crab used in this experiment were quite tolerant of OA conditions, the molecular mechanisms and pathways described here may be potentially critical to survival in an acidified environment.