Meeting Abstract
In recent years the Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a significant increase in annual temperature that is expected to continue over the next several decades. The coastal marine environment in this part of the world has previously been extremely cold and stable, and as a result many Antarctic species appear to have lost the ability to elicit a heat shock response, thus making them ill-equipped to tolerate elevated temperatures. The cold-adapted nemertean worm Parborlasia corrugatus is a benthic scavenger and predator found throughout Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. Despite its ecological significance, to our knowledge no research has been previously conducted to analyze P. corrugatus‘s cellular response to heat and salinity stress. Consequently, it is unclear the effect that global climate change will have on these important organisms. The goal of this study was to investigate HSP70 expression using western blotting. Specimens were collected from the Ross Sea and experiments were conducted at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Animals were exposed to acute heat stress (10°C) or salinity stress (24ppt or 28ppt) and protein levels of the crucial molecular chaperone HSP70 were determined. Here, we present our findings and discuss their implications in the context of global climate change.
