RNA expression and disease tolerance are associated with a "keystone mutation" in the ochre sea star Pisaster ochraceus

An overdominant mutation in an intron of the elongation factor 1- (EF1A) gene in the sea star has shown itself to mediate tolerance to "sea star wasting disease", a pandemic that has significantly reduced sea star populations on the Pacific coast of North America. Here we use RNA sequencin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) CA), 2017-08, Vol.5, p.e3696-e3696, Article e3696
Main Authors: Chandler, V Katelyn, Wares, John P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animal behavior
Biodiversity
Community
Disease
Disease tolerance
Diseases
Ecology
Evolutionary biology
Evolutionary Studies
Gene expression
Genes
Genetic aspects
Genetics
Hypotheses
Insects
Laboratories
Mortality
Mutation
Organisms
Outbreaks
Overdominance
Pandemics
Pathogens
Pisaster ochraceus
Predation
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
RNA expression
RNA sequencing
Sea star wasting disease
Starfishes
Tolerance
Zoology
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Summary:An overdominant mutation in an intron of the elongation factor 1- (EF1A) gene in the sea star has shown itself to mediate tolerance to "sea star wasting disease", a pandemic that has significantly reduced sea star populations on the Pacific coast of North America. Here we use RNA sequencing of healthy individuals to identify differences in constitutive expression of gene regions that may help explain this tolerance phenotype. Our results show that individuals carrying this mutation have lower expression at a large contingent of gene regions. Individuals without this mutation also appear to have a greater cellular response to temperature stress, which has been implicated in the outbreak of sea star wasting disease. Given the ecological significance of , these results may be useful in predicting the evolutionary and demographic future for Pacific intertidal communities.
ISSN:2167-8359
2167-8359
DOI:10.7717/peerj.3696