Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral
Global change is increasing seawater temperatures and decreasing oceanic pH, driving declines of coral reefs globally. Coral ecosystems are also impacted by local stressors, including microplastics, which are ubiquitous on reefs. While the independent effects of these global and local stressors are...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:39dc475589534cef961347326ecaad92 2023-05-15T17:51:44+02:00 Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral Colleen B. Bove Katharine Greene Sharla Sugierski Nicola G. Kriefall Alexa K. Huzar Annabel M. Hughes Koty Sharp Nicole D. Fogarty Sarah W. Davies 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130 https://doaj.org/article/39dc475589534cef961347326ecaad92 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130 https://doaj.org/article/39dc475589534cef961347326ecaad92 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2023) global change microplastics gene expression Acropora cervicornis coral microbiome ocean acidification Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130 2023-01-15T01:24:35Z Global change is increasing seawater temperatures and decreasing oceanic pH, driving declines of coral reefs globally. Coral ecosystems are also impacted by local stressors, including microplastics, which are ubiquitous on reefs. While the independent effects of these global and local stressors are well-documented, their interactions remain less explored. Here, we examine the independent and combined effects of global change (ocean warming and acidification) and microplastics exposures on gene expression (GE) and microbial community composition in the endangered coral Acropora cervicornis. Nine genotypes were fragmented and maintained in one of four experimental treatments: 1) ambient conditions (ambient seawater, no microplastics; AMB); 2) microplastics treatment (ambient seawater, microplastics; MP); 3) global change conditions (warm and acidic conditions, no microplastics; OAW); and 4) multistressor treatment (warm and acidic conditions with microplastics; OAW+MP) for 22 days, after which corals were sampled for genome-wide GE profiling and ITS2 and 16S metabarcoding. Overall A. cervicornis GE responses to all treatments were subtle; however, corals in the multistressor treatment exhibited the strongest GE responses, and genes associated with innate immunity were overrepresented in this treatment. ITS2 analyses confirmed that all coral were associated with Symbiodinium ‘fitti’ and 16S analyses revealed similar microbiomes dominated by the bacterial associate Aquarickettsia, suggesting that these A. cervicornis fragments exhibited remarkably low variability in algal and bacterial community compositions. Future work should focus on functional differences across microbiomes, especially Aquarickettsia and viruses, in these responses. Overall, results suggest that when local stressors are coupled with global change, these interacting stressors present unique challenges to this endangered coral species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
global change microplastics gene expression Acropora cervicornis coral microbiome ocean acidification Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
global change microplastics gene expression Acropora cervicornis coral microbiome ocean acidification Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Colleen B. Bove Katharine Greene Sharla Sugierski Nicola G. Kriefall Alexa K. Huzar Annabel M. Hughes Koty Sharp Nicole D. Fogarty Sarah W. Davies Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
topic_facet |
global change microplastics gene expression Acropora cervicornis coral microbiome ocean acidification Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Global change is increasing seawater temperatures and decreasing oceanic pH, driving declines of coral reefs globally. Coral ecosystems are also impacted by local stressors, including microplastics, which are ubiquitous on reefs. While the independent effects of these global and local stressors are well-documented, their interactions remain less explored. Here, we examine the independent and combined effects of global change (ocean warming and acidification) and microplastics exposures on gene expression (GE) and microbial community composition in the endangered coral Acropora cervicornis. Nine genotypes were fragmented and maintained in one of four experimental treatments: 1) ambient conditions (ambient seawater, no microplastics; AMB); 2) microplastics treatment (ambient seawater, microplastics; MP); 3) global change conditions (warm and acidic conditions, no microplastics; OAW); and 4) multistressor treatment (warm and acidic conditions with microplastics; OAW+MP) for 22 days, after which corals were sampled for genome-wide GE profiling and ITS2 and 16S metabarcoding. Overall A. cervicornis GE responses to all treatments were subtle; however, corals in the multistressor treatment exhibited the strongest GE responses, and genes associated with innate immunity were overrepresented in this treatment. ITS2 analyses confirmed that all coral were associated with Symbiodinium ‘fitti’ and 16S analyses revealed similar microbiomes dominated by the bacterial associate Aquarickettsia, suggesting that these A. cervicornis fragments exhibited remarkably low variability in algal and bacterial community compositions. Future work should focus on functional differences across microbiomes, especially Aquarickettsia and viruses, in these responses. Overall, results suggest that when local stressors are coupled with global change, these interacting stressors present unique challenges to this endangered coral species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Colleen B. Bove Katharine Greene Sharla Sugierski Nicola G. Kriefall Alexa K. Huzar Annabel M. Hughes Koty Sharp Nicole D. Fogarty Sarah W. Davies |
author_facet |
Colleen B. Bove Katharine Greene Sharla Sugierski Nicola G. Kriefall Alexa K. Huzar Annabel M. Hughes Koty Sharp Nicole D. Fogarty Sarah W. Davies |
author_sort |
Colleen B. Bove |
title |
Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
title_short |
Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
title_full |
Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
title_fullStr |
Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
title_sort |
exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130 https://doaj.org/article/39dc475589534cef961347326ecaad92 |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130 https://doaj.org/article/39dc475589534cef961347326ecaad92 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1766158962934153216 |