Gene expression and epigenetic responses of the marine Cladoceran, Evadne nordmanni, and the copepod, Acartia clausi, to elevated CO2

• Published in: Ecology and evolution Vol. 11; no. 23; pp. 16776 - 16785
• Main Authors: Aluru, Neelakanteswar, Fields, David M., Shema, Steven, Skiftesvik, Anne Berit, Browman, Howard I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bognor Regis John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-12-2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Acidification; Adaptation; Alkalinity; Animals; Bisulfite; Carbon dioxide; Climate change; Corals; Cytoskeleton; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA methylation; DNA sequencing; Energy metabolism; Epigenetics; Exposure; Extracellular matrix; Food chains; Food webs; Gene expression; Histones; Hypotheses; Hypoxia; marine cladocerans; Marine organisms; Ocean acidification; Organisms; Phenotypic plasticity; Physiological effects; Physiology; RNAsequencing; Seawater; Species; Temperature requirements; Zooplankton; United States > US
• ISSN: 2045-7758; 2045-7758
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8309

Characterizing the capacity of marine organisms to adapt to climate change related drivers (e.g., pCO2 and temperature), and the possible rate of this adaptation, is required to assess their resilience (or lack thereof) to these drivers. Several studies have hypothesized that epigenetic markers such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and noncoding RNAs, act as drivers of adaptation in marine organisms, especially corals. However, this hypothesis has not been tested in zooplankton, a keystone organism in marine food webs. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that acute ocean acidification (OA) exposure alters DNA methylation in two zooplanktonic species—copepods (Acartia clausii) and cladocerans (Evadne nordmanii). We exposed these two species to near‐future OA conditions (400 and 900 ppm pCO2) for 24 h and assessed transcriptional and DNA methylation patterns using RNA sequencing and Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing (RRBS). OA exposure caused differential expression of genes associated with energy metabolism, cytoskeletal and extracellular matrix functions, hypoxia and one‐carbon metabolism. Similarly, OA exposure also caused altered DNA methylation patterns in both species but the effect of these changes on gene expression and physiological effects remains to be determined. The results from this study form the basis for studies investigating the potential role of epigenetic mechanisms in OA induced phenotypic plasticity and/or adaptive responses in zooplanktonic organisms.
Characterizing the capacity of marine organisms to adapt to climate‐change‐related drivers (e.g. pCO2 and temperature), and the possible rate of this adaptation, is required to assess their resilience (or lack thereof) to these drivers. In an effort to understand these, we conducted a study investigating the potential epigenetic changes in response to Ocean acidification in two planktonic species of ecological importance (Copepod, Acartia clausi and Cladoceran, Evadne nordmanni). Our results suggest that these organisms can employ epigenetic mechanisms in coping with acute changes in pCO2 levels. Future research will characterize long‐term adaptive responses to climatic factors such as pCO2 and temperature.