Blue mussels’ ability to buffer against environmental stress shows great potential for aquaculture

An article recently posted on phys.org highlighted the ability of blue mussels to change patterns of gene expression, allowing proteins to better cope with heat stress and facilitate energy production.

 

Blue mussels
Image credit: Katrin-Lena on Flickr
(CC BY-ND 2.0)

Visiting Professor to the school of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, Sarah Kingston explained how this ability makes blue mussels more resilient to high ocean temperatures, acidification, and less food. She also noted each of these environmental factors are getting worse in the Gulf of Maine and are expected to worsen even further in the future.

It was also noted how the scientists findings have important implications for aquaculture, where future studies could identify the genes underlying variance in the calcification rate of shells. Dr Kingston pointed out that it could be useful to selectively breed mussels to be hardier.

Read the full article on the phys.org website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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