Transcriptional Responses Of The Coral Reef Fish Pomacentrus Moluccensis To Temperature Stress
Coral reefs are unique ecosystems that are facing serious threats due to anthropogenic pressures and a predicted rise in sea surface temperatures due to global warming. Our current understanding of how the physiology and fitness of coral reef fishes may be affected by the predicted increases in temperature is poor. This study is employing microarray technology to study the effects of temperature stress on the transcriptome of the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis. The transcriptional responses to short-term and long-term exposure to temperature stress are compared and contrasted to the transcriptional responses to other types of stress, hypoxia and hypo-osmotic stress. Five-day exposure of P. moluccensis to elevated temperatures (three degree Celsium above ambient) resulted in the largest gene expression changes involving more than 1000 gene loci with a broad range of gene functions. While the results of this study give a first understanding of which genes and pathways are affected by temperature stress, further work is required in order to understand the relationship between the observed changes in gene expression and the fitness and survival of these fishes over the long-term.