@article{18e6cc397e8548dea006616726d793f9,
title = "Species and population specific gene expression in blood transcriptomes of marine turtles",
abstract = "Background: Transcriptomic data has demonstrated utility to advance the study of physiological diversity and organisms{\textquoteright} responses to environmental stressors. However, a lack of genomic resources and challenges associated with collecting high-quality RNA can limit its application for many wild populations. Minimally invasive blood sampling combined with de novo transcriptomic approaches has great potential to alleviate these barriers. Here, we advance these goals for marine turtles by generating high quality de novo blood transcriptome assemblies to characterize functional diversity and compare global transcriptional profiles between tissues, species, and foraging aggregations. Results: We generated high quality blood transcriptome assemblies for hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles. The functional diversity in assembled blood transcriptomes was comparable to those from more traditionally sampled tissues. A total of 31.3% of orthogroups identified were present in all four species, representing a core set of conserved genes expressed in blood and shared across marine turtle species. We observed strong species-specific expression of these genes, as well as distinct transcriptomic profiles between green turtle foraging aggregations that inhabit areas of greater or lesser anthropogenic disturbance. Conclusions: Obtaining global gene expression data through non-lethal, minimally invasive sampling can greatly expand the applications of RNA-sequencing in protected long-lived species such as marine turtles. The distinct differences in gene expression signatures between species and foraging aggregations provide insight into the functional genomics underlying the diversity in this ancient vertebrate lineage. The transcriptomic resources generated here can be used in further studies examining the evolutionary ecology and anthropogenic impacts on marine turtles.",
keywords = "Comparative transcriptomics, Conservation physiology, Minimally invasive sampling, Ortholog, RNA-sequencing, Sea turtle",
author = "Banerjee, {Shreya M.} and Stoll, {Jamie Adkins} and Allen, {Camryn D.} and Lynch, {Jennifer M.} and Harris, {Heather S.} and Lauren Kenyon and Connon, {Richard E.} and Sterling, {Eleanor J.} and Eugenia Naro-Maciel and Kathryn McFadden and Lamont, {Margaret M.} and James Benge and Fernandez, {Nadia B.} and Seminoff, {Jeffrey A.} and Benson, {Scott R.} and Lewison, {Rebecca L.} and Tomoharu Eguchi and Summers, {Tammy M.} and Hapdei, {Jessy R.} and Rice, {Marc R.} and Summer Martin and Jones, {T. Todd} and Dutton, {Peter H.} and Balazs, {George H.} and Komoroske, {Lisa M.}",
note = "Funding Information: We mourn the loss of our colleague, Kate McFadden, who played an integral role in this work, and whose presence and intellect we sorely miss. We thank Frannie Nilsen, Angela Hansen, and Jessica Jacob for sample collection, Paul Becker, Rebecca Pugh, and Brenda Jensen for sample archival, Rina McPherson, Nann Fangue and Victoria Pease for assistance with laboratory work and logistics, and Blair Bentley for assistance with bioinformatics. We thank the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources Sea Turtle Program for facilitating sample collection. We are also grateful to Moss Landing Marine Laboratories small boat operations and the St. Croix Leatherback Project (Kelly Stewart) at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge (Claudia Lombard) for leatherback nesting beach field work assistance and sample collection, as well as John Douglas for leatherback in-water field work assistance and facilitation of sample collection. Many thanks to Erin LaCasella and Gabriela Serra-Valente for their assistance with curation and processing of samples accessioned into the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Research (MMSTR) Collection at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center{\textquoteright}s La Jolla Laboratory in California, USA. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Funding Information: The sample collection was supported by Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Funding for study design, data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript writing was provided to SMB, JAS, and LMK by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and NSF-IOS award #1904439. CDA was funded by the National Research Council and Ocean Associates, Inc. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",
year = "2021",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1186/s12864-021-07656-5",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "22",
journal = "BMC Genomics",
issn = "1471-2164",
publisher = "BioMed Central",
number = "1",
}