Gene expression patterns of red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) exposed to different combinations of temperature and pCO2 during early development.
Juliet M WongGretchen E HofmannPublished in: BMC genomics (2021)
M. franciscanus exhibited transcriptomic plasticity under different temperatures, indicating their capacity for a molecular-level response that may facilitate red sea urchins facing ocean warming as climate change continues. In contrast, the lack of a robust transcriptomic response, in combination with observations of decreased body size, under elevated pCO2 levels suggest that this species may be negatively affected by ocean acidification. High present-day pCO2 conditions that occur due to coastal upwelling may already be influencing populations of M. franciscanus.