Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus

To cope with environmental stresses, organisms often adopt a memory response upon primary stress exposure to facilitate a quicker and/or stronger reaction to recurring stresses. Somatic stress memory is essential in dealing with contemporary stress. The earliest sign of somatic stress memory is a ch...

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Main Authors: Wenqing Zhang, Danwen Liu, Heran Yang, Tianya Yang, Zhifeng Zhang, Yubin Ma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325003562
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author Wenqing Zhang
Danwen Liu
Heran Yang
Tianya Yang
Zhifeng Zhang
Yubin Ma
author_facet Wenqing Zhang
Danwen Liu
Heran Yang
Tianya Yang
Zhifeng Zhang
Yubin Ma
author_sort Wenqing Zhang
collection DOAJ
description To cope with environmental stresses, organisms often adopt a memory response upon primary stress exposure to facilitate a quicker and/or stronger reaction to recurring stresses. Somatic stress memory is essential in dealing with contemporary stress. The earliest sign of somatic stress memory is a change in gene transcription levels, which alters physiology and phenotype to better cope with stress. Sulfide is a common environmental pollutant; however, some organisms have successfully colonized sulfur-rich environments. Whether stress memory plays important role in sulfide stress adaptation remains unclear. In this study, to determine whether Urechis unicinctus, a sulfur-tolerant organism, retains the memory of previous sulfide stress, we simulated a repetitive sulfide stress/recovery system. The results showed that the tolerance of U. unicinctus to sulfide stress was significantly increased after priming with 50 µM sulfide. Further, transcriptional memory genes (TMGs) involved in regulating sulfide stress memory were identified, classified according to their expression patterns, and functionally analyzed. TMGs involved in sulfide metabolism, sugar metabolism, and protein homeostasis pathway showed an enhanced response, whereas those related to DNA repair pathway demonstrated a modified response pattern. Our study indicated that U. unicinctus retains memory of sulfide stress priming, which mediates plasticity to accelerate sulfide stress adaptation.
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publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
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spelling doaj-art-3cc07e0832f1446e9c79a90dc8108da42025-08-20T02:50:48ZengElsevierEcotoxicology and Environmental Safety0147-65132025-03-0129311802010.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118020Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctusWenqing Zhang0Danwen Liu1Heran Yang2Tianya Yang3Zhifeng Zhang4Yubin Ma5Key Laboratory of Tropical Aquatic Germplasm of Hainan Province, Sanya Ocean Institute, Ocean University of China, Sanya 572000, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; School of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, ChinaKey Laboratory of Tropical Aquatic Germplasm of Hainan Province, Sanya Ocean Institute, Ocean University of China, Sanya 572000, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, ChinaKey Laboratory of Tropical Aquatic Germplasm of Hainan Province, Sanya Ocean Institute, Ocean University of China, Sanya 572000, China; Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Tropical Aquatic Germplasm of Hainan Province, Sanya Ocean Institute, Ocean University of China, Sanya 572000, China.Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; Corresponding author.To cope with environmental stresses, organisms often adopt a memory response upon primary stress exposure to facilitate a quicker and/or stronger reaction to recurring stresses. Somatic stress memory is essential in dealing with contemporary stress. The earliest sign of somatic stress memory is a change in gene transcription levels, which alters physiology and phenotype to better cope with stress. Sulfide is a common environmental pollutant; however, some organisms have successfully colonized sulfur-rich environments. Whether stress memory plays important role in sulfide stress adaptation remains unclear. In this study, to determine whether Urechis unicinctus, a sulfur-tolerant organism, retains the memory of previous sulfide stress, we simulated a repetitive sulfide stress/recovery system. The results showed that the tolerance of U. unicinctus to sulfide stress was significantly increased after priming with 50 µM sulfide. Further, transcriptional memory genes (TMGs) involved in regulating sulfide stress memory were identified, classified according to their expression patterns, and functionally analyzed. TMGs involved in sulfide metabolism, sugar metabolism, and protein homeostasis pathway showed an enhanced response, whereas those related to DNA repair pathway demonstrated a modified response pattern. Our study indicated that U. unicinctus retains memory of sulfide stress priming, which mediates plasticity to accelerate sulfide stress adaptation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325003562Stress memoryTranscriptional memorySulfide stress primingAdaptationUrechis unicinctus
spellingShingle Wenqing Zhang
Danwen Liu
Heran Yang
Tianya Yang
Zhifeng Zhang
Yubin Ma
Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus
Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Stress memory
Transcriptional memory
Sulfide stress priming
Adaptation
Urechis unicinctus
title Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus
title_full Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus
title_fullStr Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus
title_full_unstemmed Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus
title_short Transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in Urechis unicinctus
title_sort transcriptional memories mediate the plasticity of sulfide stress responses to enable acclimation in urechis unicinctus
topic Stress memory
Transcriptional memory
Sulfide stress priming
Adaptation
Urechis unicinctus
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325003562
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