title: Development of gene expression markers of acute heat-light stress in reef-building corals of the genus Porites.
abstract: Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to increased incidence of climate-induced coral bleaching, which will have widespread biodiversity and economic impacts. A simple method to measure the sub-bleaching level of heat-light stress experienced by corals would greatly inform reef management practices by making it possible to assess the distribution of bleaching risks among individual reef sites. Gene expression analysis based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine coral condition in situ. We evaluated the expression of 13 candidate genes during heat-light stress in a common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides, and observed strong and consistent changes in gene expression in two independent experiments. Furthermore, we found that the apparent return to baseline expression levels during a recovery phase was rapid, despite visible signs of colony bleaching. We show that the response to acute heat-light stress in P. astreoides can be monitored by measuring the difference in expression of only two genes: Hsp16 and actin. We demonstrate that this assay discriminates between corals sampled from two field sites experiencing different temperatures. We also show that the assay is applicable to an Indo-Pacific congener, P. lobata, and therefore could potentially be used to diagnose acute heat-light stress on coral reefs worldwide.
authors: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America. carly.kenkel@gmail.com
authors: Carly D
authors: CD
authors: Kenkel
authors: Galina
authors: G
authors: Aglyamova
authors: Ada
authors: A
authors: Alamaru
authors: Ranjeet
authors: R
authors: Bhagooli
authors: Roxana
authors: R
authors: Capper
authors: Ross
authors: R
authors: Cunning
authors: Amanda
authors: A
authors: deVillers
authors: Joshua A
authors: JA
authors: Haslun
authors: Laetitia
authors: L
authors: Hédouin
authors: Shashank
authors: S
authors: Keshavmurthy
authors: Kristin A
authors: KA
authors: Kuehl
authors: Huda
authors: H
authors: Mahmoud
authors: Elizabeth S
authors: ES
authors: McGinty
authors: Phanor H
authors: PH
authors: Montoya-Maya
authors: Caroline V
authors: CV
authors: Palmer
authors: Raffaella
authors: R
authors: Pantile
authors: Juan A
authors: JA
authors: Sánchez
authors: Tom
authors: T
authors: Schils
authors: Rachel N
authors: RN
authors: Silverstein
authors: Logan B
authors: LB
authors: Squiers
authors: Pei-Ciao
authors: PC
authors: Tang
authors: Tamar L
authors: TL
authors: Goulet
authors: Mikhail V
authors: MV
authors: Matz
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D057894:Coral Reefs; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008027:Light / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D015415:Biomarkers; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins