Meeting Abstract
P2.23 Saturday, Jan. 5 Exposure of adult purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, to solar ultraviolet radiation (sUVR) affects embryo resistance DEBRISH, A*; MAGANA, C; BRUMMITT, S; ADAMS, N; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA nadams@calpoly.edu
Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) causes physiological stress in marine organisms including sea urchins. Some sea urchin species appear to provide some maternal investment to protect offspring from environmental effects of UVR. We examined how solar UVR exposure of the adults affects maternal investment in eggs and embryos of the purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. We exposed adults to or protected them from solar UVR for 6 months using Plexiglas filters. We sampled gonads every two months to compare the gonadal index (wet wt. of gonad/wet wt. of adult) between the UV treatments, sex and time. In addition, we compared spawned egg volume between treatments and the amount of UV-induced developmental delays in embryos of eggs spawned from the adults exposed to or protected from UVR. Split plot ANOVAs revealed that there was no significant difference in the gonadal index or volume of eggs spawned between females of the two treatments. The embryos however, experienced a significant difference in UV-resistance between maternal UV treatments. Specifically, embryos from the UV-exposed mothers experienced lower amounts of UV-induced delays in cell division than embryos from mothers protected from UVR (P<0.05, n=4). Therefore, although exposure to UVR does not affect the volume of sea urchin gonads or eggs it appears to alter the maternal investment, conferring greater protection to eggs from UV-induced damage. We are currently comparing proteomic profiles among batches of these eggs and embryos to identify whether specific proteins differ and contribute to differential resistance to UVR.
