Abstract
Seagrasses exhibit vital ecological roles in the marine environment. Nevertheless, the genomic resources available for seagrasses are still scarce. In the present study, the transcriptome of Cymodocea nodosa was sequenced with a view to study the molecular mechanisms underlying abiotic stress responses. The sequenced transcriptome for the species was near-complete and a high percentage of the transcripts was computationally annotated. An experimental simulation of marine plant exposure to extreme temperature (34°C), salinity (50psu) and their combination was conducted. A dynamic transcriptome 24h response (short-term) from stress initialization was recorded. The most noteworthy alteration in gene expression was observed in heat-stressed plants. Transcripts associated with development, photosynthesis, osmotic balance and stress-response were differentially expressed, under the set experimental conditions. Results indicate a potential negative interaction of heat and osmotic stress on seagrasses transcriptome.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 47-56 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Marine Genomics |
Volume | 34 |
Early online date | 4 Apr 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2017 |
Bibliographical note
This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) (375425) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program: THALES - Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Funds (Project Acronym: MANTOLES). Also useful suggestions by Professor C. Katsaros are greatly appreciated. The authors would like to thank the two anonymous referees for their essential suggestions and comments. The MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011) is gratefully acknowledged.Keywords
- Journal Article
- Cymodocea nodosa
- RNAseq
- Transcriptome
- Differential expression