Phylogenetic Analysis of Molluscan Metallothioneins: Evolutionary Insight from Crassostrea virginica.

Mechanisms by which organisms genetically adapt to environmental conditions are of fundamental importance to studies of evolutionary biology and environmental physiology. Natural selection acts on existing genetic variation leading to adaptation through selection of new mutations that confer beneficial advantages to populations. The American oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is an excellent model to investigate interactions between environmental and ecological factors as driving forces for natural selection. A great example of this is represented by the diversity of C. virginica metallothioneins (CvMT), metal-binding proteins involved in homeostasis and tolerance, that have resulted from a series of duplication events to produce the greatest structural diversity of MT proteins found in a single species. We present phylogenetic evidence of two distinct ancestral ß-domain MTs that gave rise to a variety of ßß and αß CvMT proteins, as well as CvMT-II proteins consisting solely of one to four α-domains. Furthermore, we annotate the complete locus containing the paralogous CvMT-I, -II, and -IV genes, providing supporting evidence of a hypothesized series of exon and gene duplication events that gave rise to the various CvMT-I and -II isoforms. We also highlight unique MT expression profiles from four separate C. virginica populations to demonstrate differences in gene diversity and copy number which appear to be enriched in southeastern U.S. oyster populations. These observations contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to adaptation in organisms that experience substantial environmental stress, with a specific focus on evolutionary adaptations of gene structure.

Comparative physiological, biochemical and molecular thermal stress response profiles for two unionid freshwater mussel species.

Freshwater mussels, aquatic keystone species, are in global decline. Long life spans, sedentary lifestyles, and unique reproductive strategies involving obligate parasitic stages make unionid freshwater mussels particularly sensitive to environmental perturbations resulting from global climate change. A greater understanding of the mechanisms by which closely related species differ in their response to thermal challenge is critical for successful conservation and management practices. As such, both an acute heat shock and a chronic warming simulation were conducted in order to evaluate responses between hypothesized thermally tolerant (Villosa lienosa) and thermally sensitive (Villosa nebulosa) freshwater mussels in response to predicted thermal warming. Multiple biological responses were quantified, including mortality, condition index, growth rates, glycogen and triglyceride content, and candidate gene expression. During acute heat shock, both species upregulated HSP90 and HSP70, although V. lienosa showed consistently greater transcript levels during upregulation. This pattern was consistent during the chronic warming simulation, with V. nebulosa showing greater induction of HSP60 Chronic warming stimulated increases in condition index for V. nebulosa; however, declines in growth rates during a recovery period were observed with no concurrent change in tissue glycogen levels. This contrasts with V. lienosa, where tissue glycogen significantly increased during chronic warming, although no response was observed for condition index or growth rates. These biological differences might indicate disparate thermal stress response mechanisms correlated with metabolic demands and resource utilization, and could thus be a factor influencing current ranges of these two species and their ability to cope with future persistent warming in their native habitats.

Ultraviolet radiation significantly enhances the molecular response to dispersant and sweet crude oil exposure in Nematostella vectensis.

Estuarine organisms are subjected to combinations of anthropogenic and natural stressors, which together can reduce an organisms' ability to respond to either stress or can potentiate or synergize the cellular impacts for individual stressors. Nematostella vectensis (starlet sea anemone) is a useful model for investigating novel and evolutionarily conserved cellular and molecular responses to environmental stress. Using RNA-seq, we assessed global changes in gene expression in Nematostella in response to dispersant and/or sweet crude oil exposure alone or combined with ultraviolet radiation (UV). A total of 110 transcripts were differentially expressed by dispersant and/or crude oil exposure, primarily dominated by the down-regulation of 74 unique transcripts in the dispersant treatment. In contrast, UV exposure alone or combined with dispersant and/or oil resulted in the differential expression of 1133 transcripts, of which 436 were shared between all four treatment combinations. Most significant was the differential expression of 531 transcripts unique to one or more of the combined UV/chemical exposures. Main categories of genes affected by one or more of the treatments included enzymes involved in xenobiotic metabolism and transport, DNA repair enzymes, and general stress response genes conserved among vertebrates and invertebrates. However, the most interesting observation was the induction of several transcripts indicating de novo synthesis of mycosporine-like amino acids and other novel cellular antioxidants. Together, our data suggest that the toxicity of oil and/or dispersant and the complexity of the molecular response are significantly enhanced by UV exposure, which may co-occur for shallow water species like Nematostella.

Transcriptomic evaluation of the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica, deployed during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Evidence of an active hydrocarbon response pathway.

Estuarine organisms were impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill which released ∼5 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in the spring and summer of 2010. Crassostrea virginica, the American oyster, is a keystone species in these coastal estuaries and is routinely used for environmental monitoring purposes. However, very little is known about their cellular and molecular responses to hydrocarbon exposure. In response to the spill, a monitoring program was initiated by deploying hatchery-reared oysters at three sites along the Alabama and Mississippi coast (Grand Bay, MS, Fort Morgan, AL, and Orange Beach, AL). Oysters were deployed for 2-month periods at five different time points from May 2010 to May 2011. Gill and digestive gland tissues were harvested for gene expression analysis and determination of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations. To facilitate identification of stress response genes that may be involved in the hydrocarbon response, a nearly complete transcriptome was assembled using Roche 454 and Illumina high-throughput sequencing from RNA samples obtained from the gill and digestive gland tissues of deployed oysters. This effort resulted in the assembly and annotation of 27,227 transcripts comprised of a large assortment of stress response genes, including members of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) pathway, Phase I and II biotransformation enzymes, antioxidant enzymes and xenobiotic transporters. From this assembly several potential biomarkers of hydrocarbon exposure were chosen for expression profiling, including the AHR, two cytochrome P450 1A genes (CYP1A-like 1 and CYP1A-like 2), Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), glutathione S-transferase theta (GST theta) and multidrug resistance protein 3 (MRP3). Higher expression levels of GST theta and MRP3 were observed in gill tissues from all three sites during the summer to early fall 2010 deployments. Linear regression analysis indicated a statistically significant relationship between total PAH levels in digestive gland tissue samples with CYP1A-like 2, CuZnSOD, GST theta and MRP3 induction. These observations provide evidence of a potentially conserved AHR pathway in invertebrates and yield new insight into the development of novel biomarkers for use in environmental monitoring activities.