Transcriptomics of coping strategies in free-swimming Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Copepoda) larvae responding to abiotic stress.

ABSTRACT: The salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis is a marine ectoparasite of wild and farmed salmon in the Northern Hemisphere. Infections of farmed salmon are of economic and ecological concern. Nauplius and copepodid salmon lice larvae are free-swimming and disperse in the water column until they encounter a host. In this study, we characterized the sublethal stress responses of L. salmonis copepodid larvae by applying a 38K oligonucleotide microarray to profile transcriptomes following 24 h exposures to suboptimal salinity (30-10 parts per thousand (‰)) or temperature (16-4 °C) environments. Hyposalinity exposure resulted in large-scale gene expression changes relative to those elicited by a thermal gradient. Subsequently, transcriptome responses to a more finely resolved salinity gradient betw

SUBMITTER: Sutherland BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3557717 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature