Some like it hot: population-specific adaptations in venom production to abiotic stressors in a widely distributed cnidarian

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dc.contributor.authorSachkova, Maria Y.
dc.contributor.authorMacrander, Jason
dc.contributor.authorSurm, Joachim M.
dc.contributor.authorAharoni, Reuven
dc.contributor.authorMenard-Harvey, Shelcie S.
dc.contributor.authorKlock, Amy
dc.contributor.authorLeach, Whitney B.
dc.contributor.authorReitzel, Adam M.
dc.contributor.authorMoran, Yehu
dc.date.accessioned2022-09-29T21:18:16Z
dc.date.available2022-09-29T21:18:16Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractAbstract Background In cnidarians, antagonistic interactions with predators and prey are mediated by their venom, whose synthesis may be metabolically expensive. The potentially high cost of venom production has been hypothesized to drive population-specific variation in venom expression due to differences in abiotic conditions. However, the effects of environmental factors on venom production have been rarely demonstrated in animals. Here, we explore the impact of specific abiotic stresses on venom production of distinct populations of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (Actiniaria, Cnidaria) inhabiting estuaries over a broad geographic range where environmental conditions such as temperatures and salinity vary widely. Results We challenged Nematostella polyps with heat, salinity, UV light stressors, and a combination of all three factors to determine how abiotic stressors impact toxin expression for individuals collected across this species’ range. Transcriptomics and proteomics revealed that the highly abundant toxin Nv1 was the most downregulated gene under heat stress conditions in multiple populations. Physiological measurements demonstrated that venom is metabolically costly to produce. Strikingly, under a range of abiotic stressors, individuals from different geographic locations along this latitudinal cline modulate differently their venom production levels. Conclusions We demonstrate that abiotic stress results in venom regulation in Nematostella. Together with anecdotal observations from other cnidarian species, our results suggest this might be a universal phenomenon in Cnidaria. The decrease in venom production under stress conditions across species coupled with the evidence for its high metabolic cost in Nematostella suggests downregulation of venom production under certain conditions may be highly advantageous and adaptive. Furthermore, our results point towards local adaptation of this mechanism in Nematostella populations along a latitudinal cline, possibly resulting from distinct genetics and significant environmental differences between their habitats.en_US
dc.identifier.citationMaria Y. Sachkova, Jason Macrander, Joachim M. Surm, Reuven Aharoni, Shelcie S. Menard-Harvey, Amy Klock, Whitney B. Leach, Adam M. Reitzel, & Yehu Moran. (2020). Some like it hot: population-specific adaptations in venom production to abiotic stressors in a widely distributed cnidarian. BMC Biology, 18(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-020-00855-8en_US
dc.identifier.issn1741-7007
dc.identifier.urihttps://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-020-00855-8
dc.identifier.urihttps://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.4fab23eb10b4296b6cbdd019e3e2e63&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s5615486
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11416/799
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBMC Biologyen_US
dc.subjectBiologyen_US
dc.subjectCnidariaen_US
dc.titleSome like it hot: population-specific adaptations in venom production to abiotic stressors in a widely distributed cnidarianen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
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