Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coralMontipora capitata

Abstract

We used network methods to analyze transcriptomic and polar metabolomic data generated from the stress resistant stony coral Montipora capitata. Corals were exposed to ambient or thermal stress conditions over a five-week period that coincided with a mass spawning event of this species. Gene co-expression networks showed that the early thermal stress response involves downregulation of growth and DNA replication, whereas signaling and the immune response are strongly upregulated. Later stages are dominated by suppression of metabolite transport and biomineralization and enhanced expression of transcriptional regulators. Integration of gene-metabolite data demonstrates that the major outcome of the thermal treatment is activation of animal redox stress pathways with detoxification of reactive oxygen species being dominant. Differential regulation of the highly conserved cytochrome P450 gene family was of particular interest with downregulation of CYP1A1, involved in progesterone metabolism, potentially explaining the attenuated mass spawning observed during the sampling period.

Genetic Variation in Heat Tolerance of the Coral Platygyra Daedalea Indicates Potential for Adaptation to Ocean Warming

“…For the subset of significant tags shared among crosses, nine markers could be unambiguously assigned to a position in the transcriptome, all of which were annotated (Table 5). Furthermore, two of these tags, which were identified in three crosses were annotated as genes previously implicated in heat tolerance Monocarboxylate transporter 10 (K1PRR1) and Isocitrate dehydrogenase subunit 1 (E9C6G6) (Table 5) (Polato et al, 2010;Kenkel et al, 2013;Drury et al, 2022;Pathmanathan et al, 2021). In two tags that mapped to transcripts and overlapped in other crosses, we found consistent decrease in the major allele for the Monocarboxylate transporter and consistent increase of the major allele for the isocitrate dehydrogenase subunit (Table 5).…”

“…Three coral crosses had a SNP in the Krebs cycle enzyme isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and a monocarboxylate transporter both of which are associated with this annotation. These proteins have been identified in gene expression studies as important to the coral thermal stress response (Polato et al, 2010;Kenkel et al, 2013;Drury et al, 2022;Pathmanathan et al, 2021). IDH participates in reducing reactive oxygen species and is one of the 44 proteins identified as the minimal stress proteome (Kultz, 2005).…”

Genetic variation in heat tolerance of the coralPlatygyra daedaleaindicates potential for adaptation to ocean warming

“…For the subset of significant tags shared among crosses, 9 markers could be unambiguously assigned to a position in the transcriptome all of which were annotated (Table 5). Furthermore, two of these tags which were identified in three crosses were annotated as genes previously implicated in heat tolerance Monocarboxylate transporter 10 (K1PRR1) and Isocitrate dehydrogenase subunit 1 (E9C6G6) (Table 5) (Drury et al, 2021; Kenkel et al, 2013; Pathmanathan et al, 2021; Polato et al, 2010). In two tags that mapped to transcripts and overlapped in other crosses, we found consistent decrease in the major allele for the Monocarboxylate transporter and consistent increase of the major allele for the isocitrate dehydrogenase subunit (Table 5).…”

“…Three coral crosses had a SNP in the Krebs cycle enzyme isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and a monocarboxylate transporter both of which are associated with this annotation. These proteins have been identified in gene expression studies as important to the coral thermal stress response (Drury et al, 2021; Kenkel et al, 2013; Pathmanathan et al, 2021; Polato et al, 2010). IDH participates in reducing reactive oxygen species and is one of the 44 proteins identified as the minimal stress proteome (Kultz, 2005).…”

“…The monocarboxylate transporter moves lactate, pyruvate, and ketone bodies across plasma membranes, thus it is associated with the regulation of metabolism (Halestrap, 2012). This transporter has been identified as important in recent coral heat stress studies and is upregulated under heat stress (Drury et al, 2021; Pathmanathan et al, 2021). The SNPs in IDH and the monocarboxylate transporter associated with heat tolerance in this study further strengthens their proposed role in the thermal stress response in corals.…”