4.6 Article

Rapid Evolution of Coral Proteins Responsible for Interaction with the Environment

Journal

PLOS ONE
Volume 6, Issue 5, Pages -

Publisher

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020392

Keywords

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Funding

  1. National Science Foundation [IOS-0644438, OCE-0313708]
  2. Collaborative Travel Fund
  3. Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]
  4. [DEB-1054766]
  5. Division Of Environmental Biology
  6. Direct For Biological Sciences [1054766] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
  7. Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
  8. Direct For Biological Sciences [1402065] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
  9. Division Of Ocean Sciences
  10. Directorate For Geosciences [926906] Funding Source: National Science Foundation

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Background: Corals worldwide are in decline due to climate change effects (e. g., rising seawater temperatures), pollution, and exploitation. The ability of corals to cope with these stressors in the long run depends on the evolvability of the underlying genetic networks and proteins, which remain largely unknown. A genome-wide scan for positively selected genes between related coral species can help to narrow down the search space considerably. Methodology/Principal Findings: We screened a set of 2,604 putative orthologs from EST-based sequence datasets of the coral species Acropora millepora and Acropora palmata to determine the fraction and identity of proteins that may experience adaptive evolution. 7% of the orthologs show elevated rates of evolution. Taxonomically-restricted (i.e. lineage-specific) genes show a positive selection signature more frequently than genes that are found across many animal phyla. The class of proteins that displayed elevated evolutionary rates was significantly enriched for proteins involved in immunity and defense, reproduction, and sensory perception. We also found elevated rates of evolution in several other functional groups such as management of membrane vesicles, transmembrane transport of ions and organic molecules, cell adhesion, and oxidative stress response. Proteins in these processes might be related to the endosymbiotic relationship corals maintain with dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium. Conclusion/Relevance: This study provides a birds-eye view of the processes potentially underlying coral adaptation, which will serve as a foundation for future work to elucidate the rates, patterns, and mechanisms of corals' evolutionary response to global climate change.

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