Genetics of gene expression responses to temperature stress in a sea urchin gene network.

ABSTRACT: Stress responses play an important role in shaping species distributions and robustness to climate change. We investigated how stress responses alter the contribution of additive genetic variation to gene expression during development of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, under increased temperatures that model realistic climate change scenarios. We first measured gene expression responses in the embryos by RNA-seq to characterize molecular signatures of mild, chronic temperature stress in an unbiased manner. We found that an increase from 12 to 18 °C caused widespread alterations in gene expression including in genes involved in protein folding, RNA processing and development. To understand the quantitative genetic architecture of this response, we then focused on a wel

SUBMITTER: Runcie DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3866972 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature