Figure 8

Effects of acidification on transcript abundance of gill acid–base transporters. Branchial mRNA expression levels of acid–base relevant candidates including Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase (NKA), Na⁺/H⁺-exchanger 3 (NHE3), V-type-H⁺-ATPase (VHA), Rhesus protein (RhP), Na⁺/HCO₃⁻ co-transporter (NBC) and cytosolic carbonic anhydrase (CAc) during exposure to different pH conditions including pH 8.1 (control), pH 7.7 (intermediate) and pH 7.3 (low) along the time course of 168 h. Expression of the gene candidates are normalized to UBC and presented as relative change. The exposure period was separated into a short-term (grey) and medium-term (white) acclimation period. Letters indicate significant differences between pH treatments (p < 0.05). Bars represent mean ± SE (n = 3; with the average of 2 animals from each replicate).