Comparative genomics explains the evolutionary success of reef-forming corals

• Published in: eLife Vol. 5
• Main Authors: Bhattacharya, Debashish, Agrawal, Shobhit, Aranda, Manuel, Baumgarten, Sebastian, Belcaid, Mahdi, Drake, Jeana L, Erwin, Douglas, Foret, Sylvian, Gates, Ruth D, Gruber, David F, Kamel, Bishoy, Lesser, Michael P, Levy, Oren, Liew, Yi Jin, MacManes, Matthew, Mass, Tali, Medina, Monica, Mehr, Shaadi, Meyer, Eli, Price, Dana C, Putnam, Hollie M, Qiu, Huan, Shinzato, Chuya, Shoguchi, Eiichi, Stokes, Alexander J, Tambutté, Sylvie, Tchernov, Dan, Voolstra, Christian R, Wagner, Nicole, Walker, Charles W, Weber, Andreas PM, Weis, Virginia, Zelzion, Ehud, Zoccola, Didier, Falkowski, Paul G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 24.05.2016; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - genetics; Animals; Anthozoa - classification; Anthozoa - genetics; Anthozoa - growth & development; Anthozoa - metabolism; Apoptosis; Biological Evolution; biomineralization; Calcification, Physiologic - genetics; Calcium Carbonate - chemistry; Calcium Carbonate - metabolism; Cnidaria; Coral Reefs; Corals; DNA sequencing; Ecology; Environmental stress; Evolution; Evolutionary Biology; Evolutionary genetics; Gene transfer; Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genome; Genomes; Genomics; Genomics - methods; horizontal gene transfer; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Light; Light effects; Marine biology; Metabolic Networks and Pathways - genetics; Methods; Museums; Nucleotide sequencing; pH effects; Photosynthesis - physiology; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Physiology; Proteins; Reactive nitrogen species; Reactive Nitrogen Species - metabolism; Reactive oxygen species; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Science; Scleractinia; stress response; Stress, Physiological; Symbionts; symbiosis; Symbiosis - physiology; Temperature; Trees; United States > US; ecology; symbiotsis; corals; evolutionary biology; stress response; biomineralization; genomics; horizontal gene transfer

Transcriptome and genome data from twenty stony coral species and a selection of reference bilaterians were studied to elucidate coral evolutionary history. We identified genes that encode the proteins responsible for the precipitation and aggregation of the aragonite skeleton on which the organisms...