The effect of soil pH and temperature on Folsomia candida transcriptional regulation

Differences in abiotic factors like temperature and soil pH can have a significant physiological impact on soil dwelling invertebrates and may confound results in ecotoxicological testing. In this study we exposed Folsomia candida to a range of two abiotic stress treatments (pH and temperature) for 3 days and measured gene expression of a panel of nine stress response genes with real-time Q-PCR. The exposure to different pH values had a minimal effect on the expression of the nine selected genes: only V-ATPase expression was significantly increased due to decreasing pH. ATPase expression was up-regulated, possibly due to increased proton trafficking across the cell membrane, at a lower pH. HSP70 was up-regulated in collembolans exposed to 30 °C, and along with HSP40 at 0 °C. We speculate that the minor pH effect on gene expression, compared to the temperature treatment, can be explained by the spatial restricted exposure to the external pH in the gut. Our data showed that only 1 or 2 stress response genes were transcriptionally affected by pH and temperature thus exerting minimal effects. The physiological effects of these treatments on F. candida might indicate interesting novel molecular mechanisms.