Abstract
Thermal variations due to global climate change are expected to modify the distributions of marine ectotherms, with potential pathogen translocations. This is of particular concern at high latitudes where cold-adapted stenothermal fish such as the Notothenioids occur. However, little is known about the combined effects of thermal fluctuations and immune challenges on the balance between cell damage and repair processes in these fish. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of thermal variation on specific genes involved in the ubiquitination and apoptosis pathways in two congeneric Notothenioid species, subjected to simulated bacterial and viral infections. Adult fish of Harpagifer bispinis and Harpagifer antarcticus were collected from Punta Arenas (Chile) and King George Island (Antarctica), respectively, and distributed as follows: injected with PBS (control), LPS (2.5 mg/kg) or Poly I:C (2 mg/kg) and then submitted to 2, 5 and 8 °C. After 1 week, samples of gills, liver and spleen were taken to evaluate the expression by real-time PCR of specific genes involved in ubiquitination (E3-ligase enzyme) and apoptosis (BAX and SMAC/DIABLO). Gene expression was tissue-dependent and increased with increasing temperature in the gills and liver while showing an opposite pattern in the spleen. Studying a pair of sister species that occur across the Antarctic Polar Front can help us understand the particular pressures of intertidal lifestyles and the effect of temperature in combination with biological stressors on cell damage and repair capacity in a changing environment.
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All data is available in this dataset link: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8029858.
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Acknowledgements
The authors also wish to acknowledge Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH) for its support in Antarctica and appreciate the collaboration between CONICYT (now ANID) and INACH in the improvement of the “Professor Julio Escudero” base, which has favoured the fieldwork. The authors also want to thank the anonymous reviewers and L Verde Arregoitia for their comments that helped greatly to improve this manuscript. The authors acknowledge Vicerrectoría de Investigación (VIDCA) and Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias de la Acuicultura (Universidad Austral de Chile) for their support.
Funding
This work was supported by Fondap-Ideal Grant No. 15150003, ANID-Millennium Science Initiative Program-Center ICM-ANID ICN2021_002 and Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH) grant number DG_13-20. JS acknowledges Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (CONICyT now ANID, Folio 21170636) and is presently funded by ANID Fondecyt de Postdoctorado (Folio 3230234).
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L. Vargas-Chacoff, K. Paschke and J. M. Navarro designed the experiment, and they were in Antarctica. J. Saravia, J. P. Pontigo, K. Paschke, J. M. Navarro and L. Vargas-Chacoff did the sampling. J. Saravia, J. P. Pontigo and D. Nualart analysed the samples. J. Saravia and L. Vargas-Chacoff did the graph and statistical analysis. J. Saravia, J. P. Pontigo, D. Nualart, K. Paschke, J. M. Navarro and L. Vargas-Chacoff revised the draft. J. Saravia, J. P. Pontigo, D. Nualart, K. Paschke, J. M. Navarro and L. Vargas-Chacoff revised the final version.
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Saravia, J., Nualart, D., Paschke, K. et al. Temperature and immune challenges modulate the transcription of genes of the ubiquitin and apoptosis pathways in two high-latitude Notothenioid fish across the Antarctic Polar Front. Fish Physiol Biochem (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-024-01348-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-024-01348-z