Meeting Abstract
Coral reefs, one of the world’s most productive and diverse ecosystems, are currently threatened by a variety of stressors that result in increased prevalence of both bleaching and disease. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in these responses is critical to mitigate future damage to the reefs. One group of genes that are potentially involved in cnidarian immunity and symbiosis are GTPases of Immunity Associated proteins (GIMAPs). In vertebrates, this family of proteins is involved in regulating the fate of developing lymphocytes and interacts with proteins involved in apoptosis and autophagy. Since both apoptosis and autophagy are processes previously shown to be involved in cnidarian symbiosis, the goal of this research was to determine the role of cnidarian GIMAPs in these cellular processes using the sea anemone Exaiptasia pallida. To do so, GIMAP genes were characterized in the E. pallida genome and changes in GIMAP gene expression were measured using qPCR in response to chemical induction of apoptosis and autophagy. The experiment was conducted in both symbiotic and aposymbiotic anemones to account for the effect of the presence of symbionts. The results revealed four GIMAP-like genes in the E. pallida genome, which are referred to as Ep_GIMAPs. Induction of apoptosis resulted in a general downregulation of Ep_GIMAPs in both symbiotic and aposymbiotic animals indicating these proteins may be involved in pathways that promote cell survival or inhibit apoptosis. Overall, these results increase our knowledge of the role of GIMAPs in a basal metazoan.
