Project description:Background biology: Global warming has accelerated in recent decades, with the Arctic warming 2–3 times faster than the global average. As a result boreal species are expanding into the Arctic, at a pace reflecting environmental warming. Nevertheless, the poleward expansion of boreal marine species is restricted by their ability to tolerate low water temperatures, and in the case of intertidal species, sub-zero air temperatures during winter. In Greenland, however, the number of days with extreme sub-zero air temperatures has decreased by more than 50% since the 1950’s, suggesting that the low air temperature constraint is weakening. Although boreal intertidal species could potentially benefit from this warmer climate to establish populations in the Arctic, recent work has shown that local intertidal summer air temperatures in Greenland can exceed 36°C. This temperature is above the thermoregulatory capacity of many boreal intertidal species, including the highly abundant blue mussel Mytilus edulis. Therefore will further colonisation of M. edulis in Greenland be inhibited by the increasingly warm summer temperatures. Aim of experiment: Intertidal animals (Greenland blue mussel M. edulis) were sampled in situ on the first warm days of the year from the inner (warmer) and outer (cooler) regions of the Godthåbsfjorden around Nuuk (64°N) to examine the fjord temperature gradient effect. In addition, subtidal M. edulis were also collected and subjected to two acute temperature shocks of 22 and 32°C, which represented common and extreme summer air temperatures for intertidal habitats near Nuuk.
Project description:The predicted increase in frequency and duration of winter warming episodes (WWEs) at the higher northern latitudes is expected to negatively impact the forage production in this region. The formation of non-permeable ice cover due to WWEs could subject the plants to hypoxic or anoxic conditions leading to severe winter damages. Knowledge about molecular mechanisms underlaying various winter stress is crucial to develop cultivars with better winter survival under changing climatic conditions. In the current study, we aimed at identifying genes involved in ice encasement stress responses in a perennial forage grass timothy and study gene expression differentiation due to field survival using timothy cultivars from diverse genetic backgrounds. The LD50 (the number of days under ice that kill 50% of the plants) varied across cultivars and origin. The expression of many genes involved in hypoxia and freezing stress responses were highly upregulated under ice encasement conditions. Functional analysis of DEGs revealed that the upregulated genes were linked to glycolysis, pyruvate metabolism, carbon metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids while downregulated genes were related to photosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. The results from a current study indicate a substantial overlap of ice encasement stress responses with those of hypoxic and freezing stresses. In addition, the potential strategies leading to higher ice encasement tolerance of timothy are outlined. Furthermore, differences in gene expression between field survivors and original material and the differences between ice encasement responses of northern adapted cultivar and southern adapted cultivar are briefly discussed.
Project description:To carry out population genetics analyses of the Arctic gregion we carried out Illumina Bead-Array-based enotyping on 18 samples from Greenland.