Early transcriptional changes in the reef-building coral Acropora aspera in response to thermal and nutrient stress.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Changes to the environment as a result of human activities can result in a range of impacts on reef building corals that include coral bleaching (reduced concentrations of algal symbionts), decreased coral growth and calcification, and increased incidence of diseases and mortality. Understanding how elevated temperatures and nutrient concentration affect early transcriptional changes in corals and their algal endosymbionts is critically important for evaluating the responses of coral reefs to global changes happening in the environment. Here, we investigated the expression of genes in colonies of the reef-building coral Acropora aspera exposed to short-term sub-lethal levels of thermal (+6°C) and nutrient stress (ammonium-enrichment: 20 μM).

Results

The RNA-Seq da

SUBMITTER: Rosic N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4301396 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature