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Sugar sweet springtails: on the transcriptional response of Folsomia candida (Collembola) to desiccation stress
Author(s) -
Timmermans M. J. T. N.,
Roelofs D.,
Nota B.,
Ylstra B.,
Holmstrup M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
insect molecular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.955
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2583
pISSN - 0962-1075
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2009.00916.x
Subject(s) - desiccation , biology , transcriptome , sugar , botany , desiccation tolerance , cuticle (hair) , gene , biochemistry , gene expression , genetics
Several species of Collembola survive stressful desiccating conditions by absorbing water vapour from the environment. To obtain insight into the transcriptomic responses underlying this ‘water vapour absorption’ mechanism we subjected Folsomia candida (Collembola) to transcriptome profiling. We show that ecologically relevant desiccation stress leads to strong time‐dependent transcriptomic changes. Exposure of F. candida to 98.2% relative humidity over an interval of 174 h resulted in a high number of gene transcripts being differentially expressed (up to 41%; P ‐value < 0.05). Additional Gene Ontology analyses suggest that carbohydrate transport, sugar catabolism and cuticle maintenance are biological processes involved in combating desiccation. However, many additional pathways seem to be affected; additional experiments are needed to elucidate which responses are primarily linked to desiccation resistance.