The Gillichthys mirabilis Cooper array: a platform to investigate the molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity

A description of the production of a cDNA microarray platform for the goby Gillichthys mirabilis from an associated collection of expressed sequence tags is presented in this study. The arrayed cDNAs were derived from cDNA libraries prepared from RNA sourced from fish that had been acclimating to a wide variety of environmental conditions. The use of the array is illustrated by a study that investigates the gene expression response of emerged fish that switch from aquatic respiration to air breathing. These results show that the gene expression changes associated with air breathing resemble those observed in fish experiencing aquatic hypoxia suggesting that oxygen requirements are not fully met in animals which have been forced to emerge from sea water to air.