Cargando…

Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata

BACKGROUND: Corals, which form the foundation of biodiverse reef ecosystems, are under threat from warming oceans. Reefs provide essential ecological services, including food, income from tourism, nutrient cycling, waste removal, and the absorption of wave energy to mitigate erosion. Here, we studie...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Williams, Amanda, Pathmanathan, Jananan S., Stephens, Timothy G., Su, Xiaoyang, Chiles, Eric N., Conetta, Dennis, Putnam, Hollie M., Bhattacharya, Debashish
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8590396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34824906
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12335
_version_ 1784598953559326720
author Williams, Amanda
Pathmanathan, Jananan S.
Stephens, Timothy G.
Su, Xiaoyang
Chiles, Eric N.
Conetta, Dennis
Putnam, Hollie M.
Bhattacharya, Debashish
author_facet Williams, Amanda
Pathmanathan, Jananan S.
Stephens, Timothy G.
Su, Xiaoyang
Chiles, Eric N.
Conetta, Dennis
Putnam, Hollie M.
Bhattacharya, Debashish
author_sort Williams, Amanda
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Corals, which form the foundation of biodiverse reef ecosystems, are under threat from warming oceans. Reefs provide essential ecological services, including food, income from tourism, nutrient cycling, waste removal, and the absorption of wave energy to mitigate erosion. Here, we studied the coral thermal stress response using network methods to analyze transcriptomic and polar metabolomic data generated from the Hawaiian rice coral Montipora capitata. Coral nubbins were exposed to ambient or thermal stress conditions over a 5-week period, coinciding with a mass spawning event of this species. The major goal of our study was to expand the inventory of thermal stress-related genes and metabolites present in M. capitata and to study gene-metabolite interactions. These interactions provide the foundation for functional or genetic analysis of key coral genes as well as provide potentially diagnostic markers of pre-bleaching stress. A secondary goal of our study was to analyze the accumulation of sex hormones prior to and during mass spawning to understand how thermal stress may impact reproductive success in M. capitata. METHODS: M. capitata was exposed to thermal stress during its spawning cycle over the course of 5 weeks, during which time transcriptomic and polar metabolomic data were collected. We analyzed these data streams individually, and then integrated both data sets using MAGI (Metabolite Annotation and Gene Integration) to investigate molecular transitions and biochemical reactions. RESULTS: Our results reveal the complexity of the thermal stress phenome in M. capitata, which includes many genes involved in redox regulation, biomineralization, and reproduction. The size and number of modules in the gene co-expression networks expanded from the initial stress response to the onset of bleaching. The later stages involved the suppression of metabolite transport by the coral host, including a variety of sodium-coupled transporters and a putative ammonium transporter, possibly as a response to reduction in algal productivity. The gene-metabolite integration data suggest that thermal treatment results in the activation of animal redox stress pathways involved in quenching molecular oxygen to prevent an overabundance of reactive oxygen species. Lastly, evidence that thermal stress affects reproductive activity was provided by the downregulation of CYP-like genes and the irregular production of sex hormones during the mass spawning cycle. Overall, redox regulation and metabolite transport are key components of the coral animal thermal stress phenome. Mass spawning was highly attenuated under thermal stress, suggesting that global climate change may negatively impact reproductive behavior in this species.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8590396
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher PeerJ Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85903962021-11-24 Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata Williams, Amanda Pathmanathan, Jananan S. Stephens, Timothy G. Su, Xiaoyang Chiles, Eric N. Conetta, Dennis Putnam, Hollie M. Bhattacharya, Debashish PeerJ Bioinformatics BACKGROUND: Corals, which form the foundation of biodiverse reef ecosystems, are under threat from warming oceans. Reefs provide essential ecological services, including food, income from tourism, nutrient cycling, waste removal, and the absorption of wave energy to mitigate erosion. Here, we studied the coral thermal stress response using network methods to analyze transcriptomic and polar metabolomic data generated from the Hawaiian rice coral Montipora capitata. Coral nubbins were exposed to ambient or thermal stress conditions over a 5-week period, coinciding with a mass spawning event of this species. The major goal of our study was to expand the inventory of thermal stress-related genes and metabolites present in M. capitata and to study gene-metabolite interactions. These interactions provide the foundation for functional or genetic analysis of key coral genes as well as provide potentially diagnostic markers of pre-bleaching stress. A secondary goal of our study was to analyze the accumulation of sex hormones prior to and during mass spawning to understand how thermal stress may impact reproductive success in M. capitata. METHODS: M. capitata was exposed to thermal stress during its spawning cycle over the course of 5 weeks, during which time transcriptomic and polar metabolomic data were collected. We analyzed these data streams individually, and then integrated both data sets using MAGI (Metabolite Annotation and Gene Integration) to investigate molecular transitions and biochemical reactions. RESULTS: Our results reveal the complexity of the thermal stress phenome in M. capitata, which includes many genes involved in redox regulation, biomineralization, and reproduction. The size and number of modules in the gene co-expression networks expanded from the initial stress response to the onset of bleaching. The later stages involved the suppression of metabolite transport by the coral host, including a variety of sodium-coupled transporters and a putative ammonium transporter, possibly as a response to reduction in algal productivity. The gene-metabolite integration data suggest that thermal treatment results in the activation of animal redox stress pathways involved in quenching molecular oxygen to prevent an overabundance of reactive oxygen species. Lastly, evidence that thermal stress affects reproductive activity was provided by the downregulation of CYP-like genes and the irregular production of sex hormones during the mass spawning cycle. Overall, redox regulation and metabolite transport are key components of the coral animal thermal stress phenome. Mass spawning was highly attenuated under thermal stress, suggesting that global climate change may negatively impact reproductive behavior in this species. PeerJ Inc. 2021-11-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8590396/ /pubmed/34824906 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12335 Text en © 2021 Williams et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Bioinformatics
Williams, Amanda
Pathmanathan, Jananan S.
Stephens, Timothy G.
Su, Xiaoyang
Chiles, Eric N.
Conetta, Dennis
Putnam, Hollie M.
Bhattacharya, Debashish
Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata
title Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata
title_full Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata
title_fullStr Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata
title_full_unstemmed Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata
title_short Multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral Montipora capitata
title_sort multi-omic characterization of the thermal stress phenome in the stony coral montipora capitata
topic Bioinformatics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8590396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34824906
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12335
work_keys_str_mv AT williamsamanda multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT pathmanathanjananans multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT stephenstimothyg multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT suxiaoyang multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT chilesericn multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT conettadennis multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT putnamholliem multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata
AT bhattacharyadebashish multiomiccharacterizationofthethermalstressphenomeinthestonycoralmontiporacapitata