Transcriptomic stability or lability explains sensitivity to climate stressors in coralline algae
Transcriptomic stability or lability explains sensitivity to climate stressors in coralline algae
Background: Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are calcifying red macroalgae that play important ecological roles including stabilisation of reef frameworks and provision of settlement cues for a range of marine invertebrates. Previous research into the responses of CCA to ocean warming (OW) and ocean acidification (OA) have found magnitude of effect to be species-specific. Response to OW and OA could be linked to divergent underlying molecular processes across species. Results: Here we show Sporolithon durum, a species that exhibits low sensitivity to climate stressors, had little change in metabolic performance and did not significantly alter the expression of any genes when exposed to temperature and pH perturbations. In contrast, Porolithon onkodes, a major coral reef builder, reduced photosynthetic rates and had a labile transcriptomic response with over 400 significantly differentially expressed genes, with differential regulation of genes relating to physiological processes such as carbon acquisition and metabolism. The differential gene expression detected in P. onkodes implicates possible key metabolic pathways, including the pentose phosphate pathway, in the stress response of this species. Conclusions: We suggest S. durum is more resistant to OW and OA than P. onkodes, which demonstrated a high sensitivity to climate stressors and may have limited ability for acclimatisation. Understanding changes in gene expression in relation to physiological processes of CCA could help us understand and predict how different species will respond to, and persist in, future ocean conditions predicted for 2100.
Coralline algae, Global change, RNA-Seq, Resistance, Transcriptomics
Page, Tessa M.
d650dc79-64eb-4f14-b16c-86266cdeefc8
McDougall, Carmel
1c205500-fa6d-427e-893d-7ae8c98635ce
Bar, Ido
d1f798d8-efbf-436d-a2aa-51a33c0f287a
Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo
4aa5bb51-2c2a-4768-8716-d2342504a103
27 October 2022
Page, Tessa M.
d650dc79-64eb-4f14-b16c-86266cdeefc8
McDougall, Carmel
1c205500-fa6d-427e-893d-7ae8c98635ce
Bar, Ido
d1f798d8-efbf-436d-a2aa-51a33c0f287a
Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo
4aa5bb51-2c2a-4768-8716-d2342504a103
Page, Tessa M., McDougall, Carmel, Bar, Ido and Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo
(2022)
Transcriptomic stability or lability explains sensitivity to climate stressors in coralline algae.
BMC Genomics, 23 (1), [729].
(doi:10.1186/s12864-022-08931-9).
Abstract
Background: Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are calcifying red macroalgae that play important ecological roles including stabilisation of reef frameworks and provision of settlement cues for a range of marine invertebrates. Previous research into the responses of CCA to ocean warming (OW) and ocean acidification (OA) have found magnitude of effect to be species-specific. Response to OW and OA could be linked to divergent underlying molecular processes across species. Results: Here we show Sporolithon durum, a species that exhibits low sensitivity to climate stressors, had little change in metabolic performance and did not significantly alter the expression of any genes when exposed to temperature and pH perturbations. In contrast, Porolithon onkodes, a major coral reef builder, reduced photosynthetic rates and had a labile transcriptomic response with over 400 significantly differentially expressed genes, with differential regulation of genes relating to physiological processes such as carbon acquisition and metabolism. The differential gene expression detected in P. onkodes implicates possible key metabolic pathways, including the pentose phosphate pathway, in the stress response of this species. Conclusions: We suggest S. durum is more resistant to OW and OA than P. onkodes, which demonstrated a high sensitivity to climate stressors and may have limited ability for acclimatisation. Understanding changes in gene expression in relation to physiological processes of CCA could help us understand and predict how different species will respond to, and persist in, future ocean conditions predicted for 2100.
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Published date: 27 October 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Australian Research council [grant number DP160103071] awarded to GD-P and partially by the PADI Foundation awarded to TMP. The funding bodies played no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge Griffith University’s High Performance Computer Cluster, “Gowonda”, and Indy Sivapalarasah for bioinformatic assistance. We also acknowledge Ellie Bergstrom, Alexander Carlson, and Alea Laidlaw for their assistance during the experiment and for day-to-day maintenance, Dr. David Lambert and Dr. Sally Wasef for giving access to the TapeStation, and the directors and maintenance staff of Lizard Island Research Station for their assistance and continued support throughout the duration of this study. Lastly, we acknowledge and pay respects to the Dingaal People as traditional owners of Jiigurru (Lizard Island), where this experiment took place.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
Keywords:
Coralline algae, Global change, RNA-Seq, Resistance, Transcriptomics
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Local EPrints ID: 473049
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/473049
ISSN: 1471-2164
PURE UUID: fc25cfcd-967c-4dcf-900b-adf0b6631c50
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Date deposited: 09 Jan 2023 18:26
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:12
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Contributors
Author:
Tessa M. Page
Author:
Carmel McDougall
Author:
Ido Bar
Author:
Guillermo Diaz-Pulido
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