Transcriptional Adaptations to Low Salinity in Euryhaline Crustaceans

Abstract

The transfer of euryhaline crustaceans from full-strength seawater to low salinity is known to induce a myriad of physiology changes corresponding with active ion uptake across the posterior gill pairs. The goal of this thesis will be to answer several specific questions pertaining to the activation of ionic regulation processes in euryhaline crabs. The first chapter of this work contains a literature review of crustacean osmoregulation and a detailed description of the experiments used. The second chapter is a study where I measure the time course of carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity relative to gene expression in the euryhaline crabs Callinectes sapidus and Callinectes sapidus. A physiological characterization of the neuroendocrine regulation of CA activity in C. sapidus composes the third chapter. Finally, in the fourth chapter I present and RNA-seq differential gene expression analysis of C. sapidus gills acclimated to high and low salinity.