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Delayed transcriptional response of Daphnia pulex to thermal stress

ABSTRACT: Changing global climates present threats to aquatic ecosystems with events such as heatwaves and prolonged increased temperatures altering habitats and affecting species survival. Aquatic organisms are particularly vulnerable to these elevated temperatures often due to a lack of suitable migration routes. A decrease in population abundance and survival in species occupying lower trophic levels may have cascading effects on the health of an ecosystem. In this study, we investigated the fitness (fecundity) and transcriptional response of Daphnia pulex, a common grazer in lentic freshwater systems, to sublethal temperature stress. D. pulex were exposed to control (20℃) and elevated sublethal (25℃) temperature to simulate an increased water temperature from a mild heat wave for 168 hours. Our findings indicate a dynamic transcriptional response to elevated temperatures. Notably, differential gene expression between the control and temperature-elevated treatment increased throughout the experiment with a three-fold increase in counts of DEGs at 168 hours as compared to 96 hours. D. pulex within the experimental treatment had higher mean cumulative offspring produced compared to the control treatment. Given D. pulex’s role as a foundational species in aquatic food webs, the observed transcriptional response provides insight into the potential for both plastic and adaptive responses in the face of environmental change.

ORGANISM(S): Daphnia pulex

PROVIDER: GSE296043 | GEO | 2025/12/18

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Rapid heating events, such as heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and intense as a result of climate change. Importantly, such extreme weather events can be more important drivers of extirpation and selection than changes in annual or seasonal averages and they pose a particularly large threat to poikilothermic organisms. In this study, we evaluate the thermal stress response of a coldwater adapted fish species, the eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), to two successive heatwaves during July and August 2022. We sampled brook trout at eight time points from four streams (N=116 fish) that differed in thermal habitat, sequenced mRNA from gill samples using TagSeq, and quantified expression levels of 32,670 unique transcripts. Multivariate analyses found that overall expression patterns in response to water temperature change were similar among streams. These analyses futher detected groups of genes involved in immune response and oxygen carrier activity that were upregulated and downregulated respectively at higher temperatures. We also detected 43 genes that were differentially expressed at different time points and followed the same expression pattern during the two heatwaves. Of these genes, 42 covaried with water temperature and most (27, 62.8%) exhibited responses that varied by stream. Some of the differentially expressed genes, including heat shock proteins and cold-inducible RNA binding proteins, have been widely linked to temperature responses in experimental studies, whereas other genes we identified have functions that have not been well-studied in relationship to temperature (e.g., collagen organization) or have unknown functions. This study shows the utility of landscape transcriptomic approaches to identify important biological processes governing wild organismal responses to short-term stressors. The results of this study can guide future investigations to identify phenotypic and genetic diversity that contribute to adaptive response to heatwaves and improve predictions of how populations will respond to climate change.

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Delayed transcriptional response of Daphnia pulex to thermal stress

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