Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral
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Published version
Date
2023-01-13
Authors
Bove, Colleen B.
Greene, Katharine
Sugierski, Sharla
Kriefall, Nicola G.
Huzar, Alexa K.
Hughes, Annabel M.
Sharp, Koty
Fogarty, Nicole D.
Davies, Sarah W.
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Published version
OA Version
Citation
C.B. Bove, K. Greene, S. Sugierski, N.G. Kriefall, A.K. Huzar, A.M. Hughes, K. Sharp, N.D. Fogarty, S.W. Davies. "Exposure to global change and microplastics elicits an immune response in an endangered coral" Frontiers in Marine Science, Volume 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037130
Abstract
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.
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©2023 Bove, Greene, Sugierski, Kriefall, Huzar, Hughes, Sharp, Fogarty and Davies. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.