# Heat Stress, Starvation, and Heat Stress Plus Starvation Cause Unique Transcriptomic Responses in the Economically Important Red Abalone Haliotis rufescens

## TL;DR

This study shows how red abalone respond to heat stress, starvation, and both together at the gene level.

## Contribution

It reveals unique transcriptomic responses to combined stressors, which are relevant to climate change.

## Key findings

- Heat stress, starvation, and combined stress each trigger distinct gene expression patterns.
- Combined heat stress and starvation cause the largest transcriptomic response, with upregulated translation-related genes.

## Abstract

Although most marine invertebrates are experiencing multiple environmental stressors simultaneously, the transcriptome-wide gene expression responses to multiple stressors remain understudied. We used RNA-sequencing to assess the transcriptomic responses to heat stress, starvation, and heat stress plus starvation in the red abalone
Haliotis rufescens.
Results indicate that the response to each stressor is distinct and is characterized by unique gene functions. The heat stress plus starvation treatment produced the largest transcriptomic response, including a significant upregulation of genes involved in translation. Overall, this study highlights the importance of multi-stressor experiments that reflect the complex modalities of climate change.