Journal article
Unfolding the secrets of coral - algal symbosis
The ISME Journal, Vol.9, pp.844-856
2015
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Source: InCites
Abstract
<p>Dinoflagellates from the genus <em>Symbiodinium</em> form a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with reef-building corals. Here we applied massively parallel Illumina sequencing to assess genetic similarity and diversity among four phylogenetically diverse dinoflagellate clades (A, B, C and D) that are commonly associated with corals. We obtained more than 30 000 predicted genes for each <em>Symbiodinium</em> clade, with a majority of the aligned transcripts corresponding to sequence data sets of symbiotic dinoflagellates and <2% of sequences having bacterial or other foreign origin. We report 1053 genes, orthologous among four <em>Symbiodinium</em>clades, that share a high level of sequence identity to known proteins from the SwissProt (SP) database. Approximately 80% of the transcripts aligning to the 1053 SP genes were unique to <em>Symbiodinium</em> species and did not align to other dinoflagellates and unrelated eukaryotic transcriptomes/genomes. Six pathways were common to all four <em>Symbiodinium</em> clades including the phosphatidylinositol signaling system and inositol phosphate metabolism pathways. The list of <em>Symbiodinium</em>transcripts common to all four clades included conserved genes such as heat shock proteins (<em>Hsp</em>70 and <em>Hsp</em>90), <em>calmodulin</em>, <em>actin</em> and <em>tubulin</em>, several ribosomal, photosynthetic and cytochrome genes and chloroplast-based heme-containing <em>cytochrome P450</em>, involved in the biosynthesis of xanthophylls. Antioxidant genes, which are important in stress responses, were also preserved, as were a number of calcium-dependent and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases that may play a role in the establishment of symbiosis. Our findings disclose new knowledge about the genetic uniqueness of symbiotic dinoflagellates and provide a list of homologous genes important for the foundation of coral–algal symbiosis.</p>
Details
- Title
- Unfolding the secrets of coral - algal symbosis
- Creators
- Nedeljka Rosic - University of QueenslandEdmund Yew Siang Ling - University of QueenslandChon-Kit Kenneth Chan - University of QueenslandHong Ching Lee - Garvan Institute of Medical Research, SydneyPaulina Kaniewska - University of QueenslandDavid Edwards - University of QueenslandSophie Dove - University of QueenslandOve Hoegh-Guldberg - University of Queensland
- Publication Details
- The ISME Journal, Vol.9, pp.844-856
- Identifiers
- 3411; 991012821112002368
- Academic Unit
- School of Health and Human Sciences; Human Sciences; Faculty of Health
- Resource Type
- Journal article