Comparative genomics explains the evolutionary success of reef-forming corals
Type
ArticleAuthors
Bhattacharya, DebashishAgrawal, Shobhit
Aranda, Manuel

Baumgarten, Sebastian

Belcaid, Mahdi
Drake, Jeana L
Erwin, Douglas
Foret, Sylvian
Gates, Ruth D
Gruber, David F
Kamel, Bishoy

Lesser, Michael P
Levy, Oren
Liew, Yi Jin

MacManes, Matthew

Mass, Tali
Medina, Monica
Mehr, Shaadi
Meyer, Eli
Price, Dana C
Putnam, Hollie M
Qiu, Huan
Shinzato, Chuya
Shoguchi, Eiichi
Stokes, Alexander J

Tambutté, Sylvie
Tchernov, Dan
Voolstra, Christian R.

Wagner, Nicole
Walker, Charles W
Weber, Andreas PM
Weis, Virginia
Zelzion, Ehud
Zoccola, Didier

Falkowski, Paul G

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2016-05-24Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/613035
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Transcriptome and genome data from twenty stony coral species and a selection of reference bilaterians were studied to elucidate coral evolutionary history. We identified genes that encode the proteins responsible for the precipitation and aggregation of the aragonite skeleton on which the organisms live, and revealed a network of environmental sensors that coordinate responses of the host animals to temperature, light, and pH. Furthermore, we describe a variety of stress-related pathways, including apoptotic pathways that allow the host animals to detoxify reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that are generated by their intracellular photosynthetic symbionts, and determine the fate of corals under environmental stress. Some of these genes arose through horizontal gene transfer and comprise at least 0.2% of the animal gene inventory. Our analysis elucidates the evolutionary strategies that have allowed symbiotic corals to adapt and thrive for hundreds of millions of years.Citation
Comparative genomics explains the evolutionary success of reef-forming corals 2016, 5 eLifeSponsors
This work was made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation, especially EF-1408097, to PGF, DB, RDG, HMP and TM, which sponsored the workshop. Additional funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through grants EF-1041143/RU 432635 and EF-1416785 awarded to PGF, DB, and TM, respectively. RDG, HMP, and AJS were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, NIMHD P20MD006084, the Hawaii Community Foundation, Leahi Fund 13ADVC-60228 and NSF OCE PRF 1323822 and National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Hawaii: EPS-0903833. CRV and MA acknowledge funding by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, LtdJournal
eLifePubMed ID
27218454Additional Links
http://elifesciences.org/lookup/doi/10.7554/eLife.13288ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.7554/eLife.13288
Scopus Count
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