[Coral-List] Transcriptomics of coral-Symbiodinium interaction at Molecular Ecology

[Amin Esmail]

Dear Colleagues


I'd like to share with you my recent  paper published at Mol Ecol entitled "The transcriptomic response of the coral Acropora digitifera to a competent Symbiodinium strain: the symbiosome as an arrested early phagosome".


Below are the abstract and the link to the paper:


Despite the ecological significance of the relationship between reef-building corals and intracellular photosynthetic dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in its establishment. Indeed, microarray-based analyses point to the conclusion that host gene expression is largely or completely unresponsive during the establishment of symbiosis with a competent strain of Symbiodinium. In the present study, the use of Illumina RNA-Seq technology allowed detection of a transient period of differential expression involving a small number of genes (1073 transcripts; <3% of the transcriptome) 4 h after the exposure of Acropora digitifera planulae to a competent strain of Symbiodinium (a clade B strain). This phenomenon has not previously been detected as a consequence of both the lower sensitivity of the microarray approaches used and the sampling times used. The results indicate that complex changes occur, including transient suppression of mitochondrial metabolism and protein synthesis, but are also consistent with the hypothesis that the symbiosome is a phagosome that has undergone early arrest, raising the possibility of common mechanisms in the symbiotic interactions of corals and symbiotic sea anemones with their endosymbionts.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.13659/abstract


Best regards


Amin


Amin R Mohamed Esmail | PhD Candidate
AIMS at JCU
ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences
James Cook University
James Cook Dr, Townsville 4811
Queensland, Australia

Phone:+61 7 47815395
Mobile:+61 4 1624 0442
Email:amin.mohamedesmail at my.jcu.edu.au
http://www.coralcoe.org.au<http://www.coralcoe.org.au/people-students.html>