Abstract: Background: The Ice krill, Euphausia crystallorophias is one of the species at the base of the Southern Ocean food chain. Given their significant contribution to the biomass of the Southern Ocean, it is vitally important to gain a better understanding of their physiology and, in particular, anticipate their responses to climate change effects in the warming seas around Antarctica. Methodology/Principal Findings: Illumina sequencing was used to produce a transcriptome of the ice krill. Analysis of the assembled contigs via two different methods, produced 36 new pre-pro-peptides, coding for 61 neuropeptides or peptide hormones belonging to the following families: Allatostatins (A, B et C), Bursicon (α and β), Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormones (CHH and MIH/VIHs), Crustacean Cardioactive Peptide (CCAP), Corazonin, Diuretic Hormones (DH), the Eclosion Hormone (EH), Neuroparsin, Neuropeptide F (NPF), small Neuropeptide F (sNPF), Pigment Dispersing Hormone (PDH), Red Pigment Concentrating Hormone (RPCH) and finally Tachykinin. LC/MS/MS proteomics was also carried out on eyestalk extracts, which are the major site of neuropeptide synthesis in decapod crustaceans. Results confirmed the presence of six neuropeptides and six precursor-related peptides previously identified in the transcriptome analyses.Conclusions: This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of neuropeptide hormones in a Eucarida non-decapod Malacostraca, several of which are described for the first time in a non-decapod crustacean. Additionally, there is a potential expansion of PDH and Neuropeptide F family members, which may reflect certain life history traits such as circadian rhythms associated with diurnal migrations and also the confirmation via mass spectrometry of several novel pre-pro-peptides, of unknown function. Knowledge of these essential hormones provides a vital framework for understanding the physiological response of this key Southern Ocean species to climate change and provides a valuable resource for studies into the molecular phylogeny of these organisms and the evolution of neuropeptide hormones.

Abstract: The Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, is a Southern Ocean endemic species of proven ecological importance to the region. In the context of predicted global warming, it is particularly important to understand how classic biomarkers of heat stress function in this species. In this respect, Hsp70s are acknowledged as good candidates. However, previous studies of expression kinetics have not been able to demonstrate significant upregulation of these genes in response to heat shocks at 3 °C and 6 °C for 3 and 6 h. The current work complements these previous results and broadens the prospects for the use of Hsp70s as a relevant marker of thermal shock in this krill species. New experiments demonstrate that induction of Hsp70 isoforms was not detected during exposure to heat shock, but increased expression was observed after several hours of recovery. To complete the analysis of the expression kinetics of the different isoforms, experiments were carried out over short time scales (1 and 2 h at 3 °C and 6 °C) as well as at higher temperatures (9 °C, 12 °C, and 15 °C for 3 h), without any significant response. A 6-week monitoring of animals at 3 °C showed that the time factor is decisive in the establishment of the response. CTmax experiments with incremental times of 1 °C per day or 1 °C every 3 days have shown a particularly high resilience of the animals. The demonstration of the abundance of Hsp70s present before thermal stress in various species of krill, as well as in specimens of E. superba of various origins, showed that the delay in the response in expression could be related to the high constitutive levels of Hsp70 available before the stress experiments. The alternative labelling of the two main isoforms of Hsp70 according to the origin of the animals allowed hypotheses to be put forward on the functioning of thermoregulation in Antarctic krill as well as ice krill.

Abstract: The Arctic and the Antarctic Peninsula are currently experiencing some of the most rapid rates of ocean warming on the planet. This raises the question of how the initial adaptation to extreme cold temperatures was put in place and whether or not directional selection has led to the loss of genetic variation at key adaptive systems, and thus polar species’ (re)adaptability to higher temperatures. In the Southern Ocean, krill represents the most abundant fauna and is a critical member at the base of the Antarctic food web. To better understand the role of selection in shaping current patterns of polymorphisms, we examined genetic diversity of the cox-1 and hsp70 genes by comparing two closely related species of Euphausiid that differ in ecology. Results on mtcox-1 agreed with previous studies, indicating high and similar effective population sizes. However, a coalescent-based approach on hsp70 genes highlighted the role of positive selection and past demographic changes in their recent evolution. Firstly, some form of balancing selection was acting on the inducible isoform C, which reflected the maintenance of an ancestral adaptive polymorphism in both species. Secondly, E. crystallorophias seems to have lost most of its hsp70 diversity because of a population crash and/or directional selection to cold. Nonsynonymous diversities were always greater in E. superba, suggesting that it might have evolved under more heterogeneous conditions. This can be linked to species’ ecology with E. superba living in more variable pelagic conditions, while E. crystallorophias is strictly associated with continental shelves and sea ice.

Abstract: Background A comparative thermal tolerance study was undertaken on two sister species of Euphausiids (Antarctic krills) Euphausia superba and Euphausia crystallorophias. Both are essential components of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, but occupy distinct environmental geographical locations with slightly different temperature regimes. They therefore provide a useful model system for the investigation of adaptations to thermal tolerance. Methodology/Principal Finding Initial CTmax studies showed that E. superba was slightly more thermotolerant than E. crystallorophias. Five Hsp70 mRNAs were characterized from the RNAseq data of both species and subsequent expression kinetics studies revealed notable differences in induction of each of the 5 orthologues between the two species, with E. crystallorophias reacting more rapidly than E. superba. Furthermore, analyses conducted to estimate the evolutionary rates and selection strengths acting on each gene tended to support the hypothesis that diversifying selection has contributed to the diversification of this gene family, and led to the selective relaxation on the inducible C form with its possible loss of function in the two krill species. Conclusions The sensitivity of the epipelagic species E. crystallorophias to temperature variations and/or its adaptation to cold is enhanced when compared with its sister species, E. superba. These results indicate that ice krill could be the first of the two species to be impacted by the warming of coastal waters of the Austral ocean in the coming years due to climate change.