Gene expression profiles during short‐term heat stress in the red sea coral Stylophora pistillata

Abstract

During the past several decades, corals worldwide have been affected by severe bleaching events leading to wide-spread coral mortality triggered by global warming. The symbiotic Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata from the Gulf of Eilat is considered an opportunistic 'r' strategist. It can thrive in relatively unstable environments and is considered a stress-tolerant species. Here, we used a S. pistillata custom microarray to examine gene expression patterns and cellular pathways during short-term (13-day) heat stress. The results allowed us to identify a two-step reaction to heat stress, which intensified significantly as the temperature was raised to a 32 °C threshold, beyond which, coping strategies failed at 34 °C. We identified potential 'early warning genes' and 'severe heat-related genes'. Our findings suggest that during short-term heat stress, S. pistillata may divert cellular energy into mechanisms such as the ER-unfolded protein response (UPR) and ER-associated degradation (ERAD) at the expense of growth and biomineralization processes in an effort to survive and subsequently recover from the stress. We suggest a mechanistic theory for the heat stress responses that may explain the success of some species which can thrive under a wider range of temperatures relative to others.

Characterization and Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes Involved in Thermal Adaptation of the Hong Kong Oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis by Digital Gene Expression Profiling

“…Results from our pathway analysis are consistent with this mechanism of misfolded protein removal under thermal stress. Corresponding with our results, previous reports in Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and Stylophora pistillata suggest that the genes involved in protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum are significantly up-regulated under heat stress (Maor-Landaw et al, 2014;Tomalty et al, 2015). Thus, our transcriptomic study indicated that protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum may be involved in thermal stress response in the Hong Kong oysters which are vital for survival of the organism in such unfavorable conditions.…”

Molecular assessment of the effect of light and heterotrophy in the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata

“…Overall, unfed corals experienced a stress response to high light that was similar to the coral response to thermal or acidification stress [27,33,34], suggesting that the same cellprotection mechanisms are conserved among coral species. The decrease in the expression of genes related to energy metabolism and the large decrease in the photosynthetic rates of HLU corals suggest that they were not able to afford the energetic demand of cellular processes such as protein degradation, refolding and DNA repair.…”

Impact of diurnal temperature fluctuations on larval settlement and growth of the reef coral <i>Pocillopora damicornis</i>

“…Extreme temperatures may impede the production of OM as it is highly sensitive and vulnerable to short-term thermal stress (Desalvo et al, 2008(Desalvo et al, , 2010Maor-Landaw et al, 2014). Although the exact mechanism has not yet been fully resolved, our study provides evidence that daytime exposure to extreme temperature in variable thermal conditions adversely affects calcification and dampens the stimulation of skeletal growth in P. damicornis at elevated temperature.…”