Fig. 6. Northern blot analysis of taurine transporter mRNA in mussels exposed to changes in ambient salinity. (A,B) Time course of mussel taurine transporter (muTAUT) mRNA abundance in the mantle, gill and adductor muscle of mussels exposed to 2x seawater (A), 0.5x seawater (B), respectively. Total RNAs extracted from three mussels and mixed for minimization of individual variability. Lower panels show the rRNA signals of ethidium bromide-stained gel. (C) Depression of muTAUT mRNA expression by the addition of taurine. Northern blot analysis was performed using 20 µg of total RNAs from the mantle of mussels exposed to 0.5x seawater with or without 25 mmol l^-1 taurine for 24 h. RNAs loaded in each lane were extracted from different specimens.