Response of the calcifying coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi to low pH/high pCO₂: from physiology to molecular level.

ABSTRACT: The emergence of ocean acidification as a significant threat to calcifying organisms in marine ecosystems creates a pressing need to understand the physiological and molecular mechanisms by which calcification is affected by environmental parameters. We report here, for the first time, changes in gene expression induced by variations in pH/pCO₂ in the widespread and abundant coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi. Batch cultures were subjected to increased partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂; i.e. decreased pH), and the changes in expression of four functional gene classes directly or indirectly related to calcification were investigated. Increased pCO₂ did not affect the calcification rate and only carbonic anhydrase transcripts exhibited a signific

SUBMITTER: Richier S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3873069 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature