Meeting Abstract

P3.118  Wednesday, Jan. 6  Proteomic analysis of the heat shock response in the Atlantic Ribbed Mussel Geukensia demissa BURMESTER, EM*; FIELDS, PA; Franklin and Marshall College eburmest@gmail.com

As an intertidal organism inhabiting the North American east coast, the Atlantic ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa, experiences a wide range of temperatures on a daily, seasonal, and geographic basis. Body temperatures from below freezing to 45C have been measured in individuals in the field. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we examined how heat shock affected the protein response in these organisms. We acclimated G. demissa to 15C and exposed six individuals each to 35C, 40C, or 45C for one hour with a six-degree-per-hour increase to target temperature, followed by a 24 h recovery period at 15C. Quantification of protein density from gill tissue using gel image analysis software (Delta 2D) revealed significant differences between treatment groups and control. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicates similar expression between control and 35C-exposed individuals, but significant changes after exposure to 40C and 45C. Using tandem mass spectrometry we identified a subset of proteins that showed significant changes in expression after exposure. In addition to upregulation of heat shock family proteins (particularly HSP70s, HSP90s, and glucose-regulated protein 78), changes were found in other proteins involved in protein folding, including peptidyl prolyl isomerase (downregulated) and cysteine disulfide isomerase (upregulated). These results show that G. demissa is capable of mounting a robust response after exposure to extreme heat stress.