Meeting Abstract
The unpredictable nature of coral disease outbreaks suggests that differences in host susceptibility may be the major factor influencing disease dynamics. To test this hypothesis we challenged eight genotypes of Acropora millepora adults from two populations (Lizard Island and Wilkie Island) with bacteria (Vibrio owensii and V. diazotrophicus) and assessed mortality rates over a period of seven days with daily re-inoculations. There was a significant difference in mortality between genotypes as well as between populations. Global gene expression analysis revealed thousands of genes differentially expressed between genotypes. A weighted gene coexpression network analysis was used to isolate groups of co-regulated genes differentially expressed with respect to population, genotype, and bacteria-induced mortality. The co-expression modules correlating strongly with genotype as well as mortality will provide molecular markers to assess genetically determined disease susceptibility in natural coral populations.
