Insights into coral bleaching under heat stress from analysis of gene expression in a sea anemone model system.

ABSTRACT: Loss of endosymbiotic algae ("bleaching") under heat stress has become a major problem for reef-building corals worldwide. To identify genes that might be involved in triggering or executing bleaching, or in protecting corals from it, we used RNAseq to analyze gene-expression changes during heat stress in a coral relative, the sea anemone Aiptasia. We identified >500 genes that showed rapid and extensive up-regulation upon temperature increase. These genes fell into two clusters. In both clusters, most genes showed similar expression patterns in symbiotic and aposymbiotic anemones, suggesting that this early stress response is largely independent of the symbiosis. Cluster I was highly enriched for genes involved in innate immunity and apoptosis, and most transcript levels returned to basel

SUBMITTER: Cleves PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7682557 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature