Boyen, J.

De Troch, M.

Fink, P.

Mensens, C.

Wellens, S.

Open Marine Archive

-  75  -  
Poster Science in a modern era 
A transcriptomic approach to unravel fatty acid pathways of harpacticoid 
copepods in a changing environment 
Boyen Jens
1
, Mensens Christoph
1
, Wellens Siel
1
, Fink Patrick
2,3
 and De Troch Marleen
1
 
1
 Marine Biology Research Group, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8, 9000 
Gent, Belgium 
E-mail: jens.boyen@ugent.be  
2 
 Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Strasse 47b, 50674 Köln, Germany  
3
 Institute for Zoology and Cell Biology, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1,  
40225 Düsseldorf, Germany 
 
Global climate change is threatening coastal marine ecosystems by causing changes in oceanographic 
conditions such as temperature and pH. These shifts affect the physiological performance and 
productivity of organisms in marine food webs and thus the overall functioning of the ecosystem. A 
better understanding of the physiological response and adaptive capacity of coastal marine organisms 
is critical to assess their fate in a rapidly changing ocean. 
 
Harpacticoid copepods are a dominant component of estuarine benthic meiofauna, efficient grazers on 
diatoms, and a major food source for juvenile fish. They are known to contain high levels of 
polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are essential dietary constituents for fish and humans as they 
can’t produce these fatty acids themselves. Harpacticoid copepods on the other hand are able to 
bioconvert PUFAs that originate from primary producers, a process known as ‘trophic upgrading’. This 
capacity for PUFA bioconversion might be an essential strategy for harpacticoid copepods to respond 
quickly to environmental changes. However, the underlying molecular mechanism and its activation are 
still unknown for these organisms. Therefore, we aim to uncover the genetic pathways of PUFA 
bioconversion and to which extent warming and acidification will affect this process. 
 
Within our project, we are generating transcriptomic data from the estuarine harpacticoid copepod 
Platychelipus littoralis subjected to different diet, temperature and pH treatments. RNA sequencing and 
novel bioinformatic tools are used for de novo transcriptome assembly, and subsequent annotation and 
differential expression analysis of PUFA metabolism-related genes. 
 
Keywords: transcriptomics; global change; harpacticoid copepods; fatty acid metabolism 
  


A transcriptomic approach to unravel fatty acid pathways of harpacticoid copepods in a changing environment

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/318916.pdf

A transcriptomic approach to unravel fatty acid pathways of harpacticoid copepods in a changing environment

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