Meeting Abstract
Not all coral species are affected by disease equally. Some species are host to different diseases, but seem to successfully fight them reducing mortality. Other species are disproportionately infected on any given reef and experience high mortality due to disease. We are interested in the role immunity can play in directing these patterns and are evaluating coral immunity using several novel approaches. We exposed 4 species of coral that range in disease susceptibility, Orbicella faveolata, Pseudodiploria strigosa, Porites porites and Porites astreoides, to the immune stimulator, LPS and quantified the changes using full transcriptome sequencing. Using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to analyze gene expression, we identified several pathways that correlated to coral resistance. For example, disease susceptible species up-regulated many genes in apoptotic pathways while disease resistance inactivated or suppressed these pathways. Moreover, disease resistant corals upregulated pathways involved in autophagy, indicating attempts at adapting to changing conditions. These data show how cell survival pathways contribute to the immune response and subsequent patterns of disease resistance on coral reefs. Understanding these mechanisms will help inform trajectories of reefs under continuous climate and disease pressure.
