Gene expression of corals in response to macroalgal competitors
| Autor: | Mark E. Hay, Terry W. Snell, Tonya L. Shearer |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Time Factors Transcription Genetic Coral Population Dynamics lcsh:Medicine 01 natural sciences Montipora Marine Conservation Symbiodinium Acropora millepora lcsh:Science Conservation Science media_common Multidisciplinary geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology biology Coral Reefs Marine Ecology Genomics Coral reef Anthozoa Alveolata Corals Transcriptome Analysis geographic locations Research Article media_common.quotation_subject Marine Biology 010603 evolutionary biology Competition (biology) Montipora digitata Algae Stress Physiological Genetics Animals natural sciences 14. Life underwater Symbiosis geography 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Ecology and Environmental Sciences fungi lcsh:R technology industry and agriculture Biology and Life Sciences Computational Biology biochemical phenomena metabolism and nutrition Seaweed Genome Analysis biology.organism_classification lcsh:Q Transcriptome Genome Expression Analysis |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 12, p e114525 (2014) PLoS ONE |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | As corals decline and macroalgae proliferate on coral reefs, coral-macroalgal competition becomes more frequent and ecologically important. Whether corals are damaged by these interactions depends on susceptibility of the coral and traits of macroalgal competitors. Investigating changes in gene expression of corals and their intracellular symbiotic algae, Symbiodinium, in response to contact with different macroalgae provides insight into the biological processes and cellular pathways affected by competition with macroalgae. We evaluated the gene expression profiles of coral and Symbiodinium genes from two confamilial corals, Acropora millepora and Montipora digitata, after 6 h and 48 h of contact with four common macroalgae that differ in their allelopathic potency to corals. Contacts with macroalgae affected different biological pathways in the more susceptible (A. millepora) versus the more resistant (M. digitata) coral. Genes of coral hosts and of their associated Symbiodinium also responded in species-specific and time-specific ways to each macroalga. Changes in number and expression intensity of affected genes were greater after 6 h compared to 48 h of contact and were greater following contact with Chlorodesmis fastigiata and Amphiroa crassa than following contact with Galaxaura filamentosa or Turbinaria conoides. We documented a divergence in transcriptional responses between two confamilial corals and their associated Symbiodinium, as well as a diversity of dynamic responses within each coral species with respect to the species of macroalgal competitor and the duration of exposure to that competitor. These responses included early initiation of immune processes by Montipora, which is more resistant to damage after long-term macroalgal contact. Activation of the immune response by corals that better resist algal competition is consistent with the hypothesis that some macroalgal effects on corals may be mediated by microbial pathogens. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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