Applying a gene-suite approach to examine the physiological status of wild-caught walleye (Sander vitreus)

Molecular techniques have been increasingly used in a conservation physiology framework to provide valuable information regarding the mechanisms underlying responses of wild organisms to environmental and anthropogenic stressors. In the present study, we developed a reference gill transcriptome for walleye (Sander vitreus), allowing us to pair a gene-suite approach (i.e. multiple genes across multiple cellular processes) with multivariate statistics to examine the physiological status of wild-caught walleye. For molecular analyses of wild fish, the gill is a useful target for conservation studies, not only because of its importance as an indicator of the physiological status of fish but also because it can be biopsied non-lethally. Walleye were non-lethally sampled following short- (∼1.5 months) and long-term (∼3.5 months) confinement in the Delta Marsh, which is located south of Lake Manitoba in Manitoba, Canada. Large-bodied walleye are confined in the Delta Marsh from late April to early August by exclusion screens used to protect the marsh from invasive common carp (Cyprinus carpio), exposing fish to potentially stressful water quality conditions. Principal components analysis revealed patterns of transcript abundance consistent with exposure of fish to increasingly high temperature and low oxygen conditions with longer holding in the marsh. For example, longer-term confinement in the marsh was associated with increases in the mRNA levels of heat shock proteins and a shift in the mRNA abundance of aerobic to anaerobic metabolic genes. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that walleye confined in the Delta Marsh may be exhibiting sub-lethal responses to high temperature and low oxygen conditions. These results provide valuable information for managers invested in mediating impacts to a local species of conservation concern. More broadly, we highlight the usefulness of pairing transcriptomic techniques with multivariate statistics to address potential confounding factors that can affect measured physiological responses of wild-caught fish.