Marine Molecular Ecology |
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Comparative Transcriptomics We use comparative transcriptomics, examining the transcriptome as a trait, to explore the response of marine invertebrates to environmental stressors. We examine patterns of gene expression in studies related to marine ecology and conservation physiology. Research projects in this area are conducted on organisms from the California coast to coral reefs to Antarctica. |
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Study Organisms
Local sea urchins are often exposed to fluctuations in pH, temperature, and oxygen due to biotic processes in the kelp forest ecosystems they inhabit as well as the occurrence of upwelling events typically observed off of the California coast. Mussels, Mytilus spp. have a wide biogeographical range in which they are exposed to high thermal gradients. Juvenile Antarctic pteropods, Limacina helicina antarctica, develop under changing ocean conditions during the winter-to-summer transition, in which 24-hour periods of darkness and sunlight impacts food availability and pH levels. We are using transcriptomics and epigenetics to investigate all of these organisms, which are likely exposed to rapidly changing environmental conditions in nature. |
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Relevant Publications
- Wong, J.M., K.M. Johnson, M.W. Kelly and G.E. Hofmann (2018) Transcriptomics reveal transgenerational effects in purple sea urchin embryos: Adult acclimation to upwelling conditions alters the response of their progeny to differential pCO2 levels. Molecular Ecology. doi:10.1111/mec.14503
- Johnson, K.M. and G.E. Hofmann (2017) Transcriptomic response of the Antarctic pteropod Limacina helicina antarctica to ocean acidification. BMC Genomics. 18:812 doi:/10.1186/s12864-017-4161-0
- Johnson, K.M., and G.E. Hofmann (2016) A transcriptome resource for the Antarctic pteropod Limacina helicina antarctica. Marine Genomics 28:25-28. doi:10.1016/j.margen.2016.04.002
- Evans, T. G., Hofmann, G. E. (2013) Ocean acidification in the Northeast Pacific: a genomics perspective. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 53:E65–E65. http://doi:10.1111/mec.12188
- Place, S. P., Menge, B. A., Hofmann, G. E. (2012) Transcriptome profiles link environmental variation and physiological response of Mytilus californianus between Pacific tides. Functional ecology. 26:144–155http://doi:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01924.x
- Evans, T. G, Hofmann, G. E. (2012) Defining the limits of physiological plasticity: how gene expression can assess and predict the consequences of ocean change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 367:1733–1745. http://doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0019.
- Todgham, A. E., Hofmann, G. E. (2009) Transcriptomic response of sea urchin larvae Strongylocentrotus purpuratus to CO2-driven seawater acidification. Journal of Experimental Biology. 212:2579–2594. http://doi:10.1242/jeb.032540.