The ReFuGe 2020 Consortium—using “omics” approaches to explore the adaptability and resilience of coral holobionts to environmental change

Voolstra, Christian R.; Miller, David J.; Ragan, Mark A.; Hoffmann, Ary A.; Høegh-Guldberg, Ove; Bourne, David G.; Ball, Eldon E.; Ying, Hua; Fôret, Sylvain; Takahashi, Shunichi; Weynberg, Karen D.; Oppen, Madeleine J. H. van; Morrow, Kathleen M.; Chan, Cheong Xin; Rosic, Nedeljka; Leggat, William; Sprungala, Susanne; Imelfort, Michael; Tyson, Gene W.; Kassahn, Karin S.; Lundgren, Petra; Beeden, Roger; Ravasi, Timothy; Berumen, Michael L.; Abal, Eva; Fyffe, Theresa

doi:10.3389/fmars.2015.00068

Cited by 28 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The real lynchpin of successful model approaches are not the species chosen, but primarily the capacity that methods such as polyp scale models, immortal coral cell lines, closed life cycle, genomic resources, and an open and engaged community of researchers provide. Together this foundation will support the application of 'omic techniques [68][69][70], and functional genetic analysis such as CRISPR [71] to help us elucidate the still unknown aspects of these invaluable metaorganisms [68].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…; briefly, coral cell suspension aliquots mixed with DAPI working solution (DAPI + phosphate-buffered saline) are run through the FACS machine (BD FACSAria ™ II High-Speed Cell sorter with BD FACSDiva Software). The full description of the density gradient centrifugation (Percoll) method can be found in S2 File; briefly, 1 mL of Percoll solution (concentrations at 100,90,80,70,60,50,40,30,20,10, and 5% concentration) were added to 2 mL of coral suspension and centrifuged for 10 min at 1460 rpm.…”

Section: Cell Sortingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Applying model approaches in non-model systems: A review and case study on coral cell culture

et al. 2021

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Model systems approaches search for commonality in patterns underlying biological diversity and complexity led by common evolutionary paths. The success of the approach does not rest on the species chosen but on the scalability of the model and methods used to develop the model and engage research. Fine-tuning approaches to improve coral cell cultures will provide a robust platform for studying symbiosis breakdown, the calcification mechanism and its disruption, protein interactions, micronutrient transport/exchange, and the toxicity of nanoparticles, among other key biological aspects, with the added advantage of minimizing the ethical conundrum of repeated testing on ecologically threatened organisms. The work presented here aimed to lay the foundation towards development of effective methods to sort and culture reef-building coral cells with the ultimate goal of obtaining immortal cell lines for the study of bleaching, disease and toxicity at the cellular and polyp levels. To achieve this objective, the team conducted a thorough review and tested the available methods (i.e. cell dissociation, isolation, sorting, attachment and proliferation). The most effective and reproducible techniques were combined to consolidate culture methods and generate uncontaminated coral cell cultures for ~7 days (10 days maximum). The tests were conducted on scleractinian corals Pocillopora acuta of the same genotype to harmonize results and reduce variation linked to genetic diversity. The development of cell separation and identification methods in conjunction with further investigations into coral cell-type specific metabolic requirements will allow us to tailor growth media for optimized monocultures as a tool for studying essential reef-building coral traits such as symbiosis, wound healing and calcification at multiple scales.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Cell Sortingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying model approaches in non-model systems: A review and case study on coral cell culture

et al. 2021

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“…Among these interventions, using assisted evolution to artificially enhance coral's capacity to tolerate further ocean warming shows promise for reducing reef degradation . Species of tabular Acropora should be among the first targeted for assisted evolution to maximise ecosystem benefit (Voolstra et al, 2015). Furthermore, the traits identified in this study that are important for the provision of fast recovery (i.e.…”

Section: How Can Targeted Management Actions Protect Tabular Corals?mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…As has been the case in the Caribbean, regulatory protection could also serve to influence research priorities to advance understanding of tabular corals (e.g. taxa-specific 'omics' approaches - Voolstra et al, 2015). Furthermore, stakeholder engagement, community support and participation in resilience-based actions could be enhanced by targeted communications and stewardship campaigns about the critical role that tabular Acropora play in the resilience of coral reef ecosystems.…”

Section: Special Management Status Of Tabular Corals As a Catalyst For Effective Resilience-based Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Important ecosystem function, low redundancy and high vulnerability: The trifecta argument for protecting the Great Barrier Reef's tabular Acropora

Ortíz

Pears

Beeden

et al. 2021

CONSERVATION LETTERS

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Identifying organisms that play an important role in maintaining ecosystem function is a key aspect of resilience-based management. For Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR), we found that the recovery ability of shallow exposed fore-reefs is more than 14 times higher when tabular Acropora are present. The disproportionate role that tabular Acropora play appears to be driven by a combination of traits including high recruitment, high growth rate and, importantly, large maximum colony sizes. Despite this key role, tabular Acropora are highly sensitive to most pressures. We compile evidence suggesting that if tabular corals were to decline or disappear on the GBR, the potential for reef recovery on exposed fore-reefs would be considerably slowed. We then consider the merits of placing special emphasis on the protection of tabular Acropora within the management of the GBR. Importantly, we recognise that an analysis of costs and benefits of such recognition is vital before any change is implemented. Actions might include targeted crown-of-thorns starfish control, anchoring restrictions and protection for tabular corals on reefs identified as essential for their larval dispersal. In addition, targeted communications about the critical importance of these highly recognisable corals may boost community support and participation in their protection.

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“…Stress-associated genes that were known to be differentially expressed under heat and light stress from previous studies (e.g., [31,33,50]) were selected as genes of interest (GOIs) for this study (Table 1). Transcript sequences of genes predicted to be protein-coding from Coelastrea aspera, a closely-related species to D. lizardensis [44], were obtained from Reef Genomics database (http://reefgenomics.org/ (accessed on 4 October 2021); [51,52]) instead due to lack of transcriptome data for D. lizardensis. Transcript sequences were aligned against known protein sequences curated in the Uniprot Swiss-Prot protein database [53] using blastx in QIAGEN CLC Genomics Workbench (V10.0.1; Qiagen Bioinformatics GmbH, Hilden, Germany) with a threshold e-value of ≤1 × 10 −5.…”

Section: Primer Design Validation and Primer Efficiency Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emersion-Associated Responses of an Intertidal Coral and Its Suitability for Transplantation to Ecologically Engineer Seawalls

Yong

Poquita-Du

Huang

et al. 2021

JMSE

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There is a growing interest in transplanting corals onto the intertidal section of artificial coastal defences (e.g., seawalls) as an ecological engineering strategy to enhance biodiversity on urban shores. However, this inevitably results in exposure to the harsh environmental conditions associated with emersion (aerial exposure). Although the effects of a multitude of environmental stressors on corals have been examined, their photophysiological and gene expression responses to emersion stress remain understudied, as does the among-genotype variation in these responses. In this study, we conducted an in situ experiment to test the effects of increased daily emersion duration on a locally common intertidal coral, Dipsastraea cf. lizardensis. Coral fragments (n = 3) from five genotypically distinct colonies were subjected to two treatments: (1) increased daily emersion duration (~4.5 h d−1) and, (2) control (~3 h d−1) for three consecutive days during spring low tide. We examined the post-experimental photophysiological responses and expression level of a stress-associated gene, Hsp16. Relative to the controls, coral fragments that were exposed to longer daily emersion duration displayed significantly reduced effective quantum yield, while endosymbiont density varied significantly among genotypes across the experimental conditions. We found no significant differences in chlorophyll a concentration and Hsp16 gene expression level, suggesting that changes in these processes may be gradual and the duration of treatment that the corals were subjected to is likely within their tolerance limits. Taken together, it appears that D. cf. lizardensis displays substantial capacity to cope with sup-optimal conditions associated with emersion which makes it a promising candidate for transplantation onto intertidal seawalls. However, within-species variation in their stress response indicates that not all genotypes respond similarly to emersion, and this should be taken into account when selecting donor colonies for transplantation.

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The ReFuGe 2020 Consortium—using “omics” approaches to explore the adaptability and resilience of coral holobionts to environmental change

Cited by 28 publications

References 66 publications

Applying model approaches in non-model systems: A review and case study on coral cell culture

Applying model approaches in non-model systems: A review and case study on coral cell culture

Important ecosystem function, low redundancy and high vulnerability: The trifecta argument for protecting the Great Barrier Reef's tabular Acropora

Emersion-Associated Responses of an Intertidal Coral and Its Suitability for Transplantation to Ecologically Engineer Seawalls

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