Meeting Abstract

P2.194  Monday, Jan. 5  Membrane Composition and Gene Expression During Thermal Acclimation in Porcelain Crabs RONGES, Daria*; WALSH, Jillian; STILLMAN, Jonathon; SINCLAIR , Brent; Daria Ronges, San Francisco State Univ., CA ; Jillian Walsh, The Univ. of Western Ontario London, Canada ; Jonathon Stillman San Francisco State Univ., CA ; Brent J. Sinclair, The Univ. of Western Ontario London, Canada dronges@yahoo.com

Petrolisthes cinctipes is a temperate mid-intertidal crab species that can experience wintertime habitat temperatures below the freezing point of seawater. Thermal acclimation to 8°C induces enhanced cold tolerance relative to crabs acclimated to 18°C. We have investigated alterations in membrane composition and gene expression that accompany the first 24 hours of physiological acclimation to cold. Crabs were collected from the field and held in aquaria at 12°C, the water temperature at the time of collection. The experiment was initiated by transferring crabs to aquaria held at one of three temperatures: 8°C, 12°C, and 18°C. At time points during the first 24 hours of acclimation crabs were exposed -3°C for one hour, and then allowed to recover at their acclimation temperature. Most of the 8°C acclimated crabs survived more than 36 hours after the cold shock, while warm-acclimated crabs did not. To examine acclimation-related changes in lipid composition and/or gene expression, heart tissues of crabs acclimated to 8°C or 18°C, and were dissected at each time point and used for analysis of membrane composition or RNA extraction for cDNA microarray analysis. Supported by NSF ESS 0533920 to JHS and a University of Western Ontario Academic Development Fund grant to BJS.