Meeting Abstract

14.2  Sunday, Jan. 4  Transcriptional responses by the estuarine sea anemone Nematostella vectensis to cadmium exposure REITZEL, Adam M*; TARRANT, Ann M; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution areitzel@whoi.edu

Estuaries are heavily impacted by a broad range of anthropogenic contaminants from industrial and agricultural byproducts including toxic metals, aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. The fate of estuarine communities may depend upon the ability of resident organisms to deploy molecular and physiological responses to a combination of these and other stressors. Previous research has provided a wealth of data of these mechanisms in fish and crustaceans, but we currently lack sufficient data on what mechanisms a majority of resident organisms, particularly infaunal species, deploy to combat particular environmental stresses. We used suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and qPCR of candidate gene approaches to quantify transcriptional responses of the estuarine sea anemone Nematostella vectensis when exposed to cadmium. Quantitative PCR indicated that the transcript expression of a suite of candidate genes (phytochelatin synthases, heat shock proteins) responded differently to sublethal cadmium exposure. Through SSH we identified additional candidate genes (transporters, nuclear receptor) that may be involved in molecular responses to metal stress. Together, our data provide the first molecular characterization of a cnidarian response to metal pollutants and potential quantitative indicators of organismal metal stress in this ecologically important phylum.