Molecular diversity and gene expression analyses of stony corals showing different degree of bleaching stages from the Hainan Island (South China Sea)

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Coral reefs are biological diverse and high productive ecosystems in marine waters that contain few nutrients. The structural foundations of most coral reefs are tiny polyps of stony coral colonies forming a obligate symbioses to unicellular ‚zooxanthella‘ for nutrition exchange. Stony corals (Scleractinia) belong to the taxon Anthozoa (Cnidaria) representing a basal member of Metazoa. The rapid economic development and population growth in the coastal regions of South China Sea over the last several decades leaded to serious degration of many Chinese Coral Reefs. Furthermore, the breakdown of the delicate symbioses is called ‚coral bleaching‘, which actually threatens the vitality and productivity of coral reefs worldwide. Detailed studies on the molecular understanding of bleaching process as well as the dependences to the scleractinian and symbiont diversity are urgently needed for sustainable protection measures of the coral reefs and their productions.The present study is designed to investigate the molecular diversity of stony corals and their endosymbionts from Hainan Island (South China Sea). The expression pattern of possible key-genes of the bleaching process, especially variant histone gene, will be determined to analyze their roles in the bleaching process. The expression level variability within a colony as well as their correlations to coral and symbiont diversity will be analyzed using a DNA- and RNA-extraction methods that enables the analyses of individual polyps of a colony.Thus, this study will give important insights in the molecular process of bleaching take place in natural populations and can show genetic relationships between different coral reefs in the South China Sea. Additionally, it could be an innovative work to detect suitable markers for scleractinian phylogeny. The results will support effective coral reef management especially on the chinese coast and enable a better evaluation of the threat of corals reefs worldwide.