Assessing coral stress responses to environmental changes using microarray

Abstract

This study focused on the identification of functional genes in coral to assess the molecular level responses to environmental stress like as seawater temperature change. Climate change and rising seawater temperature are placing spatiallydivergent stresses on the world's coral ecosystem through increasing ocean surface temperatures and ocean acidification. To assess the coral health condition as well as coral stress responses, we purposed to identify molecular level stress responses using gene expression change as well as functional genes responding to external stress like increased seawater temperature. Approximately 200 genes including Kinesin-like protein, guanine-nucleotide releasing factor, caspase, apoptotic cysteine protease, etc changed their gene expressions after heat shock stress. These isolated genes were clustered into functional groups like information storage and processing, cellular processes and signaling and metabolism. Over70 % of isolated genes were related to the signal transduction.