Fig. 5.

RNA and protein level expression of PtHSP60 in P. turberculartus gill tissue at different exposure times under different salinity challenges. a Relative PtHSP60 mRNA expression levels in gill tissue at different time points in response to salinity challenges. The 6th pair of gills tissues of three crabs in each group was collected. Transcript levels for all samples were assessed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, and the relative expression levels of PtHSP60 were obtained relative to RpL8 expression. Values are expressed as means ± SD of the relative variations (fold induction) between each treatment (10 or 40 ppt) and the control sample (25 ppt); asterisks above thebars indicate statistically significant differences (*P < 0.05); 0–120 h, sampling point after salinity challenge. b Western blot analysis of PtHSP60 expression in gill tissue at different time points in response to salinity challenges. The 7th pair of gills tissues of three crabs in each group was collected. Protein expression levels for all samples were assessed by Western blot analysis, and the relative expression levels of PtHSP60 protein were obtained relative to β-actin expression. For Western blot expression analysis, 60 μg of protein were loaded into each lane. Values are expressed as means ± SD of the relative variations (fold induction) between each treatment (10 or 40 ppt) and the control sample (25 ppt); asterisks above the bars indicate statistically significant differences (*P < 0.05); 0–72 h, sampling point after salinity challenge