| Significant declines in Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica , populations have occurred along the coasts of the eastern United States and Gulf of Mexico. Anthropogenic disturbances, with changes in abiotic environmental conditions, either in conjunction with, or independent of these anthropogenic factors are contributing to increased mortality. Developing biomarkers for detecting their effects is critical for the successful monitoring of oyster populations. Heat shock protein 70 is a molecular chaperone known to play a role in cellular defense mechanisms. As a general rule, organisms exposed to stress show increases in expression levels of HSP70, therefore, it has been used as biomarkers to detect environmental stress for a variety of species. Differences in expression of HSP70 in C. virginica based on age of the oyster and type of environmental stress (salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen) were examined in this study. Variations in HSP 70 expression in normal development and among stresses were demonstrated. It was concluded that the expression of HSP 70 may be a useful tool to detect temperature and nutritional stresses in this species. |
