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. 2014 Aug 12;9(8):e104440.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104440. eCollection 2014.

Biomarkers of dissolved oxygen stress in oysters: a tool for restoration and management efforts

Heather K Patterson  1 , Anne Boettcher  2 , Ruth H Carmichael  1
Affiliations

Biomarkers of dissolved oxygen stress in oysters: a tool for restoration and management efforts

Heather K Patterson et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The frequency and intensity of anoxic and hypoxic events are increasing worldwide, creating stress on the organisms that inhabit affected waters. To understand the effects of low dissolved oxygen stress on oysters, hatchery-reared oysters were placed in cages and deployed along with continuously recording environmental data sondes at a reef site in Mobile Bay, AL that typically experiences low oxygen conditions. To detect and measure sublethal stress, we measured growth and survival of oysters as well as expression of three biomarkers, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) and phospho-p38 MAP kinase, in tissues from juvenile and adult oysters. Survival rates were high for both juvenile and adult oysters. Expression levels of each of the 3 isoforms of HSP 70 were negatively correlated to dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations, suggesting that HSP 70 is useful to quantify sublethal effects of DO stress. Results for HIF and phospho-p38 MAP kinase were inconclusive. Test deployments of oysters to assess expression of HSP 70 relative to environmental conditions will be useful, in addition to measuring abiotic factors, to identify appropriate sites for restoration, particularly to capture negative effects of habitat quality on biota before lethal impacts are incurred.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Co-author Ruth Carmichael is an Academic Editor. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Sand Reef and Denton reef study site in Mobile Bay, AL near the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Daily maximum, average, and minimum dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations for the top (1.0 m off bottom) and bottom (0.1 m off bottom) depth at Sand Reef, Mobile, AL.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Daily mean salinity (A) and temperature (B) for the top depth (1.0 m off bottom) and the bottom depth (0.1 m off bottom) at Sand Reef, Mobile, AL.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Regression analysis of juvenile gill (G, open circle, dashed line), adductor muscle (A, grey circle, grey line), and mantle (M, black circle, black line) tissue relative protein expression for the 3 isoforms of Hsp70 versus the average of previous 2 weeks daily dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations.
Regression lines are only present for significant regressions.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Regression analysis of adult gill (G, open circle, dashed line), adductor muscle (A, grey circle, grey line), and mantle (M, black circle, black line) tissue relative protein expression for the 3 isoforms of Hsp70 versus the average of previous 2 weeks daily dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations.
Regression lines are only present for significant regressions.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Regression analysis of juvenile gill tissue for the inducible Hsp70 isoform, Hsp69 versus the average of the previous 2 weeks daily dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations.
DO data from Denton reef (circles), and data when there was both salinity and DO stress as defined by (X).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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