The principal architects of coral reefs are the scleractinian corals; these species are divided in two major clades referred to as “robust” and “complex” corals. Although the molecular diversity of the “complex” clade has received considerable attention, with several expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries and a complete genome sequence having been constructed, the “robust” corals have received far less attention, despite the fact that robust corals have been prominent focal points for ecological and physiological studies. Filling this gap affords important opportunities to extend these studies and to improve our understanding of the differences between the two major clades. Here, we present an EST library from Stylophora pistillata (Esper 1797) and systematically analyze the assembled transcripts compared to putative homologs from the complete proteomes of six well-characterized metazoans: Nematostella vectensis, Hydra magnipapillata, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, Ciona intestinalis and Homo sapiens. Furthermore, comparative analyses of the Stylophora pistillata ESTs were performed against several Cnidaria from the Scleractinia, Actiniaria and Hydrozoa, as well as against other stony corals separately. Functional characterization of S. pistillata transcripts into KOG/COG categories and further description of Wnt and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathways showed that the assembled EST library provides sufficient data and coverage. These features of this new library suggest considerable opportunities for extending our understanding of the molecular and physiological behavior of “robust” corals.
The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel;Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco;Department of Molecular Biology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel;The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel;Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco;Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco;Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, UFR Sciences, Nice, France;Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia;Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia;Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, UFR Sciences, Nice, France;Institut Sophia Agrobiotech INRA 1355, CNRS 7254, Sophia-Antipolis, France;Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco;The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Recommended Citation:
Sarit Karako-Lampert,Didier Zoccola,Mali Salmon-Divon,et al. Transcriptome Analysis of the Scleractinian Coral Stylophora pistillata[J]. PLOS ONE,2014-01-01,9(2)