Gene Expression Response to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Transmission in M. cavernosa and O. faveolata From Florida

Since 2014, corals within Florida’s Coral Reef have been dying at an unprecedented rate due to stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Here we describe the transcriptomic outcomes of three different SCTLD transmission experiments performed at the Smithsonian Marine Station and Mote Marine Laborator...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science 2021-06, Vol.8
Main Authors: Traylor-Knowles, Nikki, Connelly, Michael T., Young, Benjamin D., Eaton, Katherine, Muller, Erinn M., Paul, Valerie J., Ushijima, Blake, DeMerlis, Allyson, Drown, Melissa K., Goncalves, Ashley, Kron, Nicholas, Snyder, Grace A., Martin, Cecily, Rodriguez, Kevin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airports
Apoptosis
BAX protein
Caribbean coral diseases
Climate change
Collagen
Colonies
Coral reefs
Corals
Defence mechanisms
Disease transmission
Epidemics
Experiments
Extracellular
Extracellular matrix
Fibrinogen
Gene expression
Growth factors
Immune response
Immune system
Immunity
Laboratories
Lesions
Marine invertebrates
Pathogens
Protein-tyrosine kinase
stony coral tissue loss disease
Tissue
transcriptomics
Transforming growth factor-b
Tyrosine
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Summary:Since 2014, corals within Florida’s Coral Reef have been dying at an unprecedented rate due to stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Here we describe the transcriptomic outcomes of three different SCTLD transmission experiments performed at the Smithsonian Marine Station and Mote Marine Laboratory between 2019 and 2020 on the corals Orbicella faveolata and Montastraea cavernosa. Overall, diseased O. faveolata had 2194 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) compared with healthy colonies, whereas diseased M. cavernosa had 582 DEGs compared with healthy colonies. Many significant DEGs were implicated in immunity, extracellular matrix rearrangement, and apoptosis. These included, but not limited to, peroxidases, collagens, Bax-like, fibrinogen-like, protein tyrosine kinase, and transforming growth factor beta. A gene module was identified that was significantly correlated to disease transmission. This module possessed many apoptosis and immune genes with high module membership indicating that a complex apoptosis and immune response is occurring in corals during SCTLD transmission. Overall, we found that O. faveolata and M. cavernosa exhibit an immune, apoptosis, and tissue rearrangement response to SCTLD. We propose that future studies should focus on examining early time points of infection, before the presence of lesions, to understand the activating mechanisms involved in SCTLD.
ISSN:2296-7745
2296-7745
DOI:10.3389/fmars.2021.681563