The genome of Aiptasia, a sea anemone model for coral symbiosis.
The most diverse marine ecosystems, coral reefs, depend upon a functional symbiosis between a cnidarian animal host (the coral) and intracellular photosynthetic dinoflagellate algae. The molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying this endosymbiosis are not well understood, in part because of the difficulties of experimental work with corals. The small sea anemone Aiptasia provides a tractable laboratory model for investigating these mechanisms. Here we report on the assembly and analysis of the Aiptasia genome, which will provide a foundation for future studies and has revealed several features that may be key to understanding the evolution and function of the endosymbiosis. These features include genomic rearrangements and taxonomically restricted genes that may be functionally related to the symbiosis, aspects of host dependence on alga-derived nutrients, a novel and expanded cnidarian-specific family of putative pattern-recognition receptors that might be involved in the animal-algal interactions, and extensive lineage-specific horizontal gene transfer. Extensive integration of genes of prokaryotic origin, including genes for antimicrobial peptides, presumably reflects an intimate association of the animal-algal pair also with its prokaryotic microbiome.
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia;
Sebastian
S
Baumgarten
Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany;
Oleg
O
Simakov
Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305;
Lisl Y
LY
Esherick
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia;
Yi Jin
YJ
Liew
Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305;
Erik M
EM
Lehnert
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia;
Craig T
CT
Michell
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia;
Yong
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2609-2401
Y
Li
Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany;
Elizabeth A
EA
Hambleton
Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany;
Annika
A
Guse
Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, United Kingdom;
Matt E
ME
Oates
Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, United Kingdom;
Julian
J
Gough
Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331.
Virginia M
VM
Weis
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia;
Manuel
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6673-016X
M
Aranda
Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305; christian.voolstra@kaust.edu.sa jpringle@stanford.edu.
John R
JR
Pringle
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia; christian.voolstra@kaust.edu.sa jpringle@stanford.edu.
Christian R
CR
Voolstra
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics*; D059646:Genome Size; D056265:Microbial Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D012615:Sea Anemones / Q000235:genetics*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D026801:Synteny / Q000235:genetics
coral reefs; dinoflagellate; endosymbiosis; horizontal gene transfer; pattern-recognition receptors