Transcriptomes of Giant Sea Anemones from Okinawa as a Tool for Understanding Their Phylogeny and Symbiotic Relationships with Anemonefish

Kashimoto, Rio; Tanimoto, Miyako; Miura, Saori; Satoh, Noriyuki; Laudet, Vincent; Khalturin, Konstantin

doi:10.2108/zs210111

Cited by 8 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the species tree, the different species of giant sea anemones formed separate lineages, consistent with previous results (20–22). However, instead of distinct lineages in the expression tree, they form a single large clade (Fig 2B).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…We constructed the expression tree using the 1-Spearman coefficient distances, while the species tree was constructed using a multisequence alignment of 1:1 single-copy orthologs using IQ-TREE 2 (29). The species tree had high bootstrap support and was consistent with previously estimated cnidarian phylogenies and an updated phylogeny of giant sea anemones (20–22, 30, 31). At a higher level, the species and expression trees were consistent; there was a clear separation of anthozoan and non- anthozoan lineages in both trees, Nematostella vectensis and Galaxea fascicularis formed divergent lineages (to giant and other sea anemones) in both the species and expression trees, and sea anemones Actinia tenebrosa, Anthopleura dowi i, and Oulactis sp were grouped with giant sea anemones.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Expression data for giant sea anemone tentacles were collected from dissected tentacles of wild specimens found throughout southern Japan. Details about sampling locations, RNA extraction, and sequencing can be found in (22). All other data were obtained from the NCBI SRA database.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dinoflagellates and cnidarians have drastically different GC content (e.g. cnidarian ~40% while Symbiodiniaceae <55%) (22); therefore, we used a GC content below 60% to filter out all cnidarian specific transcripts. Next, we created a BLAST dinoflagellate database with sequences from Symbiodinium (former clade A), Breviolium (former clade B) and Cladocopium (former clade C) and screened transcripts against this database using a BLASTN filter of 1e-20.…”

Section: Comparative Transcriptomicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ten species of giant sea anemones belonging to three different clades form a close mutualistic relationship with anemonefish (20)(21)(22). In this mutualistic interaction, the fish are sheltered by the venomous tentacles of the host sea anemone, and the fish provide the sea anemone with a source of nutrition (23,24).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The genetic basis for adaptation in giant sea anemones to their symbiosis with anemonefish and Symbiodiniaceae

Barua

Kashimoto

Khalturin

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sea anemones in the order Anthozoa play an integral part in marine ecosystems by providing refuge and habitat for various organisms. Despite this, much of their molecular ecology remains elusive. Sea anemones can nurture numerous symbiotic relationships; the most iconic being the one between giant sea anemones and anemonefish. However, the genes and biological processes associated with this symbiosis in the sea anemones in unknown. Additionally, it is unclear how genes can mediate interactions between sea anemones, anemonefish, and symbionts from the algal family Symbiodiniaceae. Here we compared the gene expression profiles of tentacles from several cnidarians to uncover the genetic basis for adaptations in giant sea anemones to their symbiosis with anemonefish and Symbiodiniaceae. We found that tentacle transcriptomes of cnidarians are highly diverse, with closely related species having more similar expression patterns. However, despite an overall high correlation between gene expression and phylogeny, the giant sea anemones showed distinct expression patterns. The giant sea anemones had gene co-expression clusters enriched for processes involved in nutrient exchange and metabolism. These genes were not only differentially expressed, but also experienced evolutionary shifts in expression in giant sea anemones. Using a phylogenetic multilevel model, we found that Symbiodiniaceae and anemonefish significantly affect gene expression in giant sea anemone tentacles. By characterizing gene expression patterns, we identify genes and biological processes that provide evidence for the cross-talk between Symbiodiniaceae, anemonefish, and giant sea anemones. Our study demonstrates how integrated biological processes can lead to the evolution of a successful multi-organism interaction.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%