Effects of salinity on the Sacramento splittail

We used a common-garden design to examine the effects of salinity on wild-caught juveniles from two populations of Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), a semi-anadromous minnow endemic to Northern California, USA. We examined the transcriptomic responses to acute and chronic exposures (i.e., 72 and 168 hrs, respectively) to 14 ppt salt water relative to control groups in fresh water. Total RNA from gill tissue was extracted from sixteen individuals from each population (n=4-6 per treatment per population) and used to prepare libraries with unique adaptors. Libraries were pooled and sequenced over 6 lanes on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 for the differential expression experiment (n=4-6 per treatment per population). Mixed tissues from additional individuals (adults exposed to various stressors) were sequenced over another lane to improve transcriptome coverage for the de novo transcriptome assembly.