This study investigates the combined effects of increased temperatures and copper on the early live stages of the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and the blue mussel Mytilus edulis as well as their hybrids. For this purpose, developmental abnormalities was measured after 48 h of exposure as well as a battery of oxidative stress markers such as, antioxidant enzyme activities, lipid peroxidation measured as malondialdehyde accumulation (MDA) and metallothionein contents (MT) and related gene expression pattern. Embryotoxicity and metal accumulation in tissues of mussel larvae exposed to a sublethal concentration of copper (10 μg/L) along with a slight temperature increase from 18 °C to22 °C were significantly increased after 48 h of exposure. Co-exposure to Cu and elevated temperatures significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activities termed as, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and being maintained at 22 °C only in pure M. galloprovincialis (PG) larvae and female galloprovincialis x male edulis hybrid larvae (HFG). A significant decrease in mRNA abundance of cat, sod, gst gene transcription levels was showed in the same species. Furthermore, metallothionein accumulation increased significantly in PG D-larvae exposed to copper at 22 °C. The same pattern was observed in term of gene expression of MTs cognates (mt-10 and mt-20). Significant increase of MDA levels in pure M. edulis (PE) larvae and their female M. edulis x male M. galloprovincialis hybrid larvae (HFE) combined with a low MTs content were observed. Overall, this study provides clues about the relatively higher resistance and resilience of M. galloprovincialis species compared to M. edulis species under environmental pollution and future climate change scenarios.
Keywords: Copper bioaccumulation; Developmental defects; Hybrids; Mussel D-larvae; Oxidative stress; Temperature increase.
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