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Khalil M, Stuhr M, Kunzmann A, Westphal H. Simultaneous ocean acidification and warming do not alter the lipid-associated biochemistry but induce enzyme activities in an asterinid starfish. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 932:173000. [PMID: 38719050 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024]
Abstract
Ocean acidification and warming affect marine ecosystems from the molecular scale in organismal physiology to broad alterations of ecosystem functions. However, knowledge of their combined effects on tropical-subtropical intertidal species remains limited. Pushing the environmental range of marine species away from the optimum initiates stress impacting biochemical metabolic characteristics, with consequences on lipid-associated and enzyme biochemistry. This study investigates lipid-associated fatty acids (FAs) and enzyme activities involved in biomineralization of the tropical-subtropical starfish Aquilonastra yairi in response to projected near-future global change. The starfish were acclimatized to two temperature levels (27 °C, 32 °C) crossed with three pCO2 concentrations (455 μatm, 1052 μatm, 2066 μatm). Total lipid (ΣLC) and FAs composition were unaffected by combined elevated temperature and pCO2, but at elevated temperature, there was an increase in ΣLC, SFAs (saturated FAs) and PUFAs (polyunsaturated FAs), and a decrease in MUFAs (monounsaturated FAs). However, temperature was the sole factor to significantly alter SFAs composition. Positive parabolic responses of Ca-ATPase and Mg-ATPase enzyme activities were detected at 27 °C with elevated pCO2, while stable enzyme activities were observed at 32 °C with elevated pCO2. Our results indicate that the lipid-associated biochemistry of A. yairi is resilient and capable of coping with near-future ocean acidification and warming. However, the calcification-related enzymes Ca-ATPase and Mg-ATPase activity appear to be more sensitive to pCO2/pH changes, leading to vulnerability concerning the skeletal structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Munawar Khalil
- Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Fahrenheitstraße 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Str. 2-4, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Malikussaleh, Reuleut Main Campus, 24355 North Aceh, Indonesia.
| | - Marleen Stuhr
- Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Fahrenheitstraße 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | - Andreas Kunzmann
- Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Fahrenheitstraße 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | - Hildegard Westphal
- Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Fahrenheitstraße 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Str. 2-4, 28359 Bremen, Germany
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Song M, Huo D, Pang L, Yu Z, Yang X, Zhang A, Zhao Y, Zhang L, Yuan X. Effects of seawater acidification and warming on morphometrics and biomineralization-related gene expression during embryo-larval development of a lightly-calcified echinoderm. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 248:118248. [PMID: 38278510 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2023] [Revised: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
CO2-induced ocean acidification and warming pose ecological threats to marine life, especially calcifying species such as echinoderms, who rely on biomineralization for skeleton formation. However, previous studies on echinoderm calcification amid climate change had a strong bias towards heavily calcified echinoderms, with little research on lightly calcified ones, such as sea cucumbers. Here, we analyzed the embryo-larval development and their biomineralization-related gene expression of a lightly calcified echinoderm, the sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus), under experimental seawater acidification (OA) and/or warming (OW). Results showed that OA (- 0.37 units) delayed development and decreased body size (8.58-56.25 % and 0.36-19.66 % decreases in stage duration and body length, respectively), whereas OW (+3.1 °C) accelerated development and increased body size (33.99-55.28 % increase in stage duration and 2.44-14.41 % enlargement in body length). OW buffered the negative effects of OA on the development timing and body size of A. japonicus. Additionally, no target genes were expressed in the blastula stage, and only two biomineralization genes (colp3α, cyp2) and five TFs (erg, tgif, foxN2/3, gata1/2/3, and tbr) were expressed throughout the embryo-larval development. Our findings suggest that the low calcification in A. japonicus larvae may be caused by biomineralization genes contraction, and low expression of those genes. Furthermore, this study indicated that seawater acidification and warming affect expression of biomineralization-related genes, and had an effect on body size and development rate during the embryo-larval stage in sea cucumbers. Our study is a first step toward a better understanding of the complexity of high pCO2 on calcification and helpful for revealing the adaptive strategy of less-calcified echinoderms amid climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingshan Song
- Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China; National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Dalian, 116023, China
| | - Da Huo
- Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
| | - Lei Pang
- Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China
| | - Zhenglin Yu
- Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China
| | - Xiaolong Yang
- National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Dalian, 116023, China
| | - Anguo Zhang
- National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Dalian, 116023, China
| | - Ye Zhao
- School of Ocean, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China
| | - Libin Zhang
- Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
| | - Xiutang Yuan
- Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China; National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Dalian, 116023, China.
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Zhao Y, Song M, Yu Z, Pang L, Zhang L, Karakassis I, Dimitriou PD, Yuan X. Transcriptomic Responses of a Lightly Calcified Echinoderm to Experimental Seawater Acidification and Warming during Early Development. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:1520. [PMID: 38132346 PMCID: PMC10740944 DOI: 10.3390/biology12121520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming (OW) are potential obstacles to the survival and growth of marine organisms, particularly those that rely on calcification. This study investigated the single and joint effects of OA and OW on sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus larvae raised under combinations of two temperatures (19 °C or 22 °C) and two pCO2 levels (400 or 1000 μatm) that reflect the current and end-of-21st-century projected ocean scenarios. The investigation focused on assessing larval development and identifying differences in gene expression patterns at four crucial embryo-larval stages (blastula, gastrula, auricularia, and doliolaria) of sea cucumbers, using RNA-seq. Results showed the detrimental effect of OA on the early development and body growth of A. japonicus larvae and a reduction in the expression of genes associated with biomineralization, skeletogenesis, and ion homeostasis. This effect was particularly pronounced during the doliolaria stage, indicating the presence of bottlenecks in larval development at this transition phase between the larval and megalopa stages in response to OA. OW accelerated the larval development across four stages of A. japonicus, especially at the blastula and doliolaria stages, but resulted in a widespread upregulation of genes related to heat shock proteins, antioxidant defense, and immune response. Significantly, the negative effects of elevated pCO2 on the developmental process of larvae appeared to be mitigated when accompanied by increased temperatures at the expense of reduced immune resilience and increased system fragility. These findings suggest that alterations in gene expression within the larvae of A. japonicus provide a mechanism to adapt to stressors arising from a rapidly changing oceanic environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
- Ocean School, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
| | - Mingshan Song
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment, National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Zhenglin Yu
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
| | - Lei Pang
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
| | - Libin Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Ioannis Karakassis
- Marine Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Crete, GR 70013 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Panagiotis D. Dimitriou
- Marine Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Crete, GR 70013 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Xiutang Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment, National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China
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