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Proteomic Changes Across A Natural Temperature Gradient In A Marine Gastropod, M Christina Vasquez, Marilla R. Lippert, Crow White, Ryan K. Walter, Lars Tomanek

Physics

Responses of marine ectotherms to variable environmental temperature often entails maintenance of cellular homeostasis and physiological function through temperature compensation and physiological changes. We investigated the physiological response to thermal stress by examining proteomic changes in the marine kelp forest gastropod and emerging fisheries species Kellet's whelk (Kelletia kelletii) across a naturally-existing thermal gradient that ranges from a warmer-water site inside the species' native range and extends to the northern, cold-water edge of the range. We hypothesized that abundance of cellular stress response and energy metabolism proteins would increase with decreasing temperature in support of cold-compensation. Our exploratory …