Project description:Similar to many marine invertebrates, scleractinian corals experience a dramatic morphological transformation, as well as a habitat switch, upon settlement and metamorphosis. At this time, planula larvae transform from non-calcifying, demersal, motile organisms into sessile, calcifying, benthic juvenile polyps. We performed a gene expression microarray analysis between planulae, aposymbiotic primary polyps, and symbiotic adult tissue to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying coral metamorphosis and early stages of calcification in the Robust/Short clade scleractinian coral Montastraea faveolata. Among the annotated genes, the most abundant upregulated transcripts in the planula stage are involved in protein synthesis, chromatin assembly and mitochondrial metabolism; the polyp stage, morphogenesis, protein catabolism and organic matrix synthesis; and the adult stage, sexual reproduction, stress response and symbiosis. Additionally, our results indicate that metamorphosis in M. faveolata planulae is likely regulated by: 1) a mechanism that resembles that described for hydrozoan cnidarians involving the neuropeptide LWamide; and 2) conserved cell adhesion and apoptosis mechanisms. Our results also suggest that calicoblast differentiation pathways may be regulated by transforming growth factors from the BMP family and Notch signalling pathway. We also present evidence showing that the planula and adult transcriptomes are more similar to each other than to the polyp trancriptome. Lastly, our results point to a large number of uncharacterized adult coral-specific genes likely involved in coral-specific functions such as symbiosis and calcification.
Project description:Corals rely on a symbiosis with dinoflagellate algae (Symbiodinium spp.) to thrive in nutrient poor tropical oceans. However, the coral-algal symbiosis can break down during bleaching events, potentially leading to coral death. While genome-wide expression studies have shown the genes associated with the breakdown of this partnership, the full conglomerate of genes responsible for the establishment and maintenance of a healthy symbiosis remains unknown. Results from previous studies suggested little transcriptomic change associated with the establishment of symbiosis. In order to elucidate the transcriptomic response of the coral host in the presence of its associated symbiont, we utilized a comparative framework. Post-metamorphic aposymbiotic coral polyps of Orbicella faveolata were compared to symbiotic coral polyps 9 days after metamorphosis and the subsequent differential gene expression between control and treatment was quantified using cDNA microarray technology. Coral polyps exhibited differential expression of genes associated with nutrient metabolism and development, providing insight into pathways turned as a result of symbiosis driving early polyp growth. Furthermore, genes associated with lysosomal fusion were also upregulated, suggesting host regulation of symbiont densities soon after infection.