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RNA-sequencing indicates high hemocyanin expression as a key strategy for cold adaptation in the Antarctic amphipod Eusirus cf. giganteus clade g3

SAMUELE GRECO1,#, ELISA D’AGOSTINO2,#, CHIARA MANFRIN1, ANASTASIA SERENA GAETANO1, GAEL FURLANIS1, FRANCESCA CAPANNI1, GIANFRANCO SANTOVITO2, PAOLO EDOMI1, PIERO GIULIO GIULIANINI1, MARCO GERDOL1,*

1 Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, 34127, Italy
2 Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, 35131, Italy

* Corresponding Author: Marco Gerdol, email
# These authors contributed equally to this work

BIOCELL 2021, 45(6), 1611-1619. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.016121

Abstract

We here report the de novo transcriptome assembly and functional annotation of Eusirus cf. giganteus clade g3, providing the first database of expressed sequences from this giant Antarctic amphipod. RNA-sequencing, carried out on the whole body of a single juvenile individual likely undergoing molting, revealed the dominant expression of hemocyanins. The mRNAs encoding these oxygen-binding proteins cumulatively accounted for about 40% of the total transcriptional effort, highlighting the key biological importance of high hemocyanin production in this Antarctic amphipod species. We speculate that this observation may mirror a strategy previously described in Antarctic cephalopods, which compensates for the decreased ability to release oxygen to peripheral tissues at sub-zero temperatures by massively increasing total blood hemocyanin content compared with temperate species. These preliminary results will undoubtedly require confirmation through proteomic and biochemical analyses aimed at characterizing the oxygen-binding properties of E. cf. giganteus clade g3 hemocyanins and at investigating whether other Antarctic arthropod species exploit similar adaptations to cope with the challenges posed by the extreme conditions of the polar environment.

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GRECO, S., D’AGOSTINO, E., MANFRIN, C., GAETANO, A. S., FURLANIS, G. et al. (2021). RNA-sequencing indicates high hemocyanin expression as a key strategy for cold adaptation in the Antarctic amphipod Eusirus cf. giganteus clade g3. BIOCELL, 45(6), 1611–1619.

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cc This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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