Transcriptomic Resilience of the Montipora digitata Holobiont to Low pH

Ocean acidification is considered as one of the major threats for coral reefs at a global scale. Marine calcifying organisms, including stony corals, are expected to be the most affected by the predicted decrease of the surface water pH at the end of the century. The severity of the impacts on coral...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science 2017-12, Vol.4
Main Authors: González-Pech, Raúl A., Vargas, Sergio, Francis, Warren R., Wörheide, Gert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acidification
Aquariums
Calcification
coral
Coral reefs
Corals
Ecosystems
Experiments
Exposure
Gene expression
Genomes
Geobiology
holobiont
Marine invertebrates
Metabolism
Montipora digitata
ocean acidification
pH effects
Physiology
resilience
Scleractinia
Seawater
Stress response
Surface water
Symbionts
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Summary:Ocean acidification is considered as one of the major threats for coral reefs at a global scale. Marine calcifying organisms, including stony corals, are expected to be the most affected by the predicted decrease of the surface water pH at the end of the century. The severity of the impacts on coral reefs remains as a matter of controversy. Although previous studies have explored the physiological response of stony corals to changes in pH, the response of the holobiont (i.e. the coral itself plus its symbionts) remains largely unexplored. In the present study, we assessed the changes in overall gene expression of the coral Montipora digitata and its microalgal symbionts after a short (three days) and a longer (42 days) exposure to low pH (7.6). The short-term exposure to low pH caused small differences in the expression level of the host, impacting mostly genes associated with stress response in other scleractinians. Longer exposure to low pH resulted in no significant changes in gene expression of treated vs. control coral hosts. Gene expression in the eukaryotic symbionts remained unaltered at both exposure times. Our findings suggest resilience, in terms of gene expression, of the Montipora digitata holobiont to pH decrease, as well as capability to acclimatize to extended periods of exposure to low pH.
ISSN:2296-7745
2296-7745
DOI:10.3389/fmars.2017.00403