Figure 2
A nocturnal pattern of circadian core clock gene expression and valve activity behavior modeled by A. minutum exposure. (A) Real-time qPCR analysis of circadian clock gene expression expressed in fold change (FC, mean ± SE, n = 5–6) for H.t and A.m. Gray areas correspond to nighttime. The p-values show different levels of expression over 28 hr between H.t and A.m, while stars indicate the different levels of expression at each time point. The first histograms show the mean levels of gene expression (FC). Different letters correspond to significant differences (p < 0.05). The second histograms show amplitudes of clock gene expression in H.t and A.m. (B) Heat maps of clock gene expression over 28 hr, organized by phase for H.t and A.m (RT-qPCR). (C) Two-way ANOVA testing the effect of day/night and H.t/A.m conditions on overall clock gene expression. (D) Mean hourly valve opening duration (VOD, %; mean ± SE; n = 16 per condition) of H.t (blue) and A.m (orange) oysters during the two days of sampling. The p-value corresponds to the difference in the mean VOD between the two conditions. (E) Mean VOD during daytime and nighttime for each condition. Different letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).
