Meeting Abstract
Ciona intestinalis, a common sea squirt, exhibits lower reproductive success at the upper extreme of water temperatures it experiences in coastal New England. In order to understand the changes in protein expression associated with this temperature stress, and possible response to global temperature change, we reared C. intestinalis from embryos to adults at 18°C (the highest temperature at which they reproduce normally at our collection site in Rhode Island) and 22°C (to simulate the temperatures they might experience due to climate change). We then dissected ovaries from animals at each temperature, extracted protein, and measured proteomic levels using shotgun mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). 1616 proteins were detected at a 1% false discovery rate present in both temperature groups by our LC-MS/MS method. 85 of those proteins are considered up or down regulated according to various criteria. Principal component analysis shows a clear distinction in protein expression pattern between the control (18°C) group and “stressed” (22°C) group. Similar to previous studies, cytoskeletal and chaparone proteins are clearly upregulated in the high temperature group. Notably, several transport and signaling proteins, not previously found to be related to temperature stress, are prominent among both up and down regulated proteins.
