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Metabolite profiling of symbiont and host during thermal stress and bleaching in the coral Acropora aspera

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Abstract

Rising seawater temperatures pose a significant threat to the persistence of coral reefs. Despite the importance of these systems, major gaps remain in our understanding of how thermal stress and bleaching affect the metabolic networks that underpin holobiont function. We applied gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) metabolomics to detect changes in the intracellular free metabolite pools (polar and semi-polar compounds) of in hospite dinoflagellate symbionts and their coral hosts (and any associated microorganisms) during early- and late-stage thermal bleaching (a reduction of approximately 50 and 70% in symbiont density, respectively). We detected characteristic changes to the metabolite profiles of each symbiotic partner associated with individual cellular responses to thermal, oxidative and osmotic stress, which progressed with the severity of bleaching. Alterations were also indicative of changes to energy-generating and biosynthesis pathways in both partners, with a shift to the increased catabolism of lipid stores. Specifically, in symbiont intracellular metabolite pools, we observed accumulations of multiple free fatty acids, plus the chloroplast-associated antioxidant alpha-tocopherol. In the host, we detected a decline in the abundance of pools of multiple carbohydrates, amino acids and intermediates, in addition to the antioxidant ascorbate. These findings further our understanding of the metabolic changes that occur to symbiont and host (and its associated microorganisms) during thermal bleaching. These findings also provide further insight into the largely undescribed roles of free metabolite pools in cellular homeostasis, signalling and acclimation to thermal stress in the cnidarian–dinoflagellate symbiosis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ms. Niru Jayasinghe and Ms. Himasha Mendis at Metabolomics Australia, The University of Melbourne, for their assistance with GC–MS sample and data analysis, the staff at Heron Island Research Station and also Dr. Morgan Han from the Metabolomics Lab at the University of Auckland, who assisted with the PAPi analysis. This research was supported by a Marsden Fund grant (contract number VUW0902) awarded to SKD. This work fulfils part of the requirements for a Ph.D. funded by a Victoria Ph.D. Scholarship awarded to KEH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Katie E. Hillyer, Shaun P. Wilkinson & Simon K. Davy

  2. School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC, 3083, Australia

    Daniel A. Dias

  3. Metabolomics Australia, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Adrian Lutz & Ute Roessner

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  1. Katie E. Hillyer
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  2. Daniel A. Dias
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Correspondence to Simon K. Davy.

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Hillyer, K.E., Dias, D.A., Lutz, A. et al. Metabolite profiling of symbiont and host during thermal stress and bleaching in the coral Acropora aspera . Coral Reefs 36, 105–118 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-016-1508-y

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