Gene Expression and the Response of Crabs to Salinity Change

Abstract

We have previously demonstrated that hemolymph levels of methyl famesomate (MF) in the green crab Carcinus maenus increase in response to hypo-osmotic stress (Lovett et al., 2001,2006). The present study measured changes in gene expression of FAOMeT, the terminal enzyme in MF synthesis, in response to hypo-osmotic stress. Crabs were acclimated to high salinity (28ppt) or low salinity (10 to 5 ppt) seawater or transferred from high to low salinity after acclimation to high salinity. We found increased transcript levels of FAOMeT in the crabs transferred from high to low salinities over time. Therefore, concluding that MF levels are in part regulated at the transcriptional level.