RT Journal Article
T1 How to thrive in unstable environments: Gene expression profile of a riparian earthworm under abiotic stress
A1 Sosa, Irene de
A1 Verdes, Aída
A1 Tilikj, Natasha
A1 Marchán, Daniel F.
A1 Planelló, Rosario
A1 Herrero, Oscar
A1 Almodóvar Pérez, Ana María
A1 Díaz Cosín, Darío J.
A1 Novo Rodríguez, Marta
AB Nowadays, extreme weather events caused by climate change are becoming more frequent. This leads to the occurrence of extreme habitats to which species must adapt. This challenge becomes crucial for species living in unstable environments, such as the riparian earthworm Eiseniella tetraedra. Its cosmopolitan distribution exposes it to various environmental changes, such as freezing in subarctic regions or droughts in Mediterranean areas. Transcriptional changes under cold and desiccation conditions could therefore shed light on the adaptive mechanisms of this species. An experiment was performed for each condition. In the cold experiment, the temperature was lowered to −14 °C ± 2 °C (compared to 8 °C for control samples), and in the desiccation treatment, humidity was lowered from 60% to 15%. Comparisons of gene expression levels between earthworms under freezing conditions and control earthworms revealed a total of 84 differentially expressed genes and comparisons between the desiccation experiment and the control yielded 163 differentially expressed genes. However, no common responses were found between the two treatments. The results suggest that E. tetraedra can acclimate to low temperatures due to the upregulation of genes involved in glucose accumulation. However, downregulation of the respiratory chain suggests that this earthworm does not tolerate freezing conditions. Under desiccation conditions, genes involved in cell protection from apoptosis and DNA repair were upregulated. In contrast, lipid metabolism was downregulated, presumably to conserve resources by reducing the rate at which they are consumed.
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697, ESSN: 1879-1026
YR 2022
FD 2022-01-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/71303
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/71303
LA eng
NO CRUE-CSIC (Acuerdos Transformativos 2021)
NO Unión Europea. Horizonte 2020
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)/FEDER
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 4 abr 2025