Project description:Florida’s coral reefs are currently experiencing a multi-year disease-related mortality event, that has resulted in massive die-offs in multiple coral species. Approximately 21 species of coral, including both Endangered Species Act-listed and the primary reef-building species, have displayed tissue loss lesions which often result in whole colony mortality [Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD)]. Determining the causative agent(s) of coral disease relies on a multidisciplinary approach since the causation may be a combination of abiotic, microbial or viral agents. Metaproteomics was used to survey changes in the molecular landscape in the coral holobiont with the goal of providing useful information not only in diagnosis, but for prediction and prognosis. Specifically, in the case of SCTLD, defining molecular changes in the coral holobiont will help define disease progression and aid in identifying the causative agent by clearly defining traits of disease progression shared across affected species. Using samples from nine coral species (46 samples total; those appearing healthy, n = 23, and diseased, n = 23), analysis of the coral and its associated microbiome were performed using bottom-up proteomics. Ongoing analysis (including improving coral holobiont genome-based search space) will demonstrate the utility of this approach and help define improved future experiments.
Project description:Florida’s coral reefs are currently experiencing a multi-year disease-related mortality event, that has resulted in massive die-offs in multiple coral species. Coral monitoring data and disease prevention/treatment efforts from recent years have identified individual Orbicella faveolata that possess high, moderate, or low resistance to stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Ninety samples of high, moderate, or low SCTLD resistance were collected from 3 reefs for bottom-up LC-MS/MS analysis (n=30 for each resistance category).
Project description:Coral skeletons are materials composed of inorganic aragonitic fibers, proteins, sugars and lipids that are highly organized to form a solid body upon which the animals live. The skeleton contains more than 30 proteins, all of which are encoded in the animal genome and secreted during the biomineralization process. How these proteins are spatially related is unknown. Using a combination of chemical crosslinking and high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, we identify, for the first time. the spatial interactions of the skeletal proteins within a stony coral. Our subsequent network analysis revealed several coral acid-rich proteins (CARPs) are invariably associated with carbonic anhydrase(s), alpha-collagen, cadherins and other calcium binding proteins. These interactions clearly show that protein-protein interactions in coral skeletons are highly coordinated and are key to understanding the formation and persistence of coral skeletons through time