Coastal habitats fluctuate with the 12.4 h tidal and 24 h light/dark cycle to predictably alter conditions such as air exposure, temperature, and food availability. Intertidal sessile bivalves exhibit behavioural and physiological adjustments to minimize the challenges of this environment. We investigated a high-resolution time course of the changes in protein abundance in the gill tissue of the intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus in a simulated tidal environment of 12:12 h light:dark cycles and a matching 6:6 h high:low tide cycle within each 12 h period. Approximately 38% of detected proteins showed significant rhythms in their abundances, with diversity in the phases of rhythmic isoforms. The circadian rhythm was dominant in protein abundance changes, particularly with oxidative metabolism. A tidal cycle elicited changes within functional groups, including in cytoskeletal proteins, chaperones, and oxidative stress proteins. In addition to protein abundance changes, we found the possibility for post-translational modifications driving rhythms, including methylation, mitochondrial peptide processing (proteolysis), and acylation. Dynamic changes in the proteome across functional categories demonstrate the importance of the tidal environment in entraining cellular processes, confirming that differential expression studies should not assume a static baseline of cellular conditions in intertidal organisms.
Keywords: Mytilus californianus; circadian; circatidal; proteomics.
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