The seasonal investigation of Symbiodiniaceae in broadcast spawning, Acropora humilis and brooding, Pocillopora cf. damicornis corals

Suppakarn Jandang; Voranop Viyakarn; Yuki Yoshioka; Chuya Shinzato; Suchana Chavanich

doi:10.7717/peerj.13114

The seasonal investigation of Symbiodiniaceae in broadcast spawning, Acropora humilis and brooding, Pocillopora cf. damicornis corals

PeerJ. 2022 Jun 14:10:e13114. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13114. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Suppakarn Jandang¹, Voranop Viyakarn^{1

2}, Yuki Yoshioka³, Chuya Shinzato³, Suchana Chavanich^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Reef Biology Research Group, Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
² Aquatic Resources Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
³ Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan.
⁴ Center of Excellence for Marine Biotechnology, Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Abstract

The density and diversity of Symbiodiniaceae associated with corals can be influenced by seasonal changes . This study provided the first annual investigation of Symbiodiniaceae density and diversity associated with Acropora humilis and Pocillopora cf. damicornis corals in the Gulf of Thailand using both zooxanthellae cell count and next-generation sequencing (ITS-1, ITS-2 regions) techniques, respectively. The results from this study indicated that zooxanthellae cell densities in both coral species differ significantly. The number of zooxanthellae was negatively correlated with the physical environment variable (light intensity). The diversity within A. humilis consisted of two genera, Cladocopium (Cspc_C3: 56.39%, C3w: 33.62%, C93type1: 4.42% and Cspf: 3.59%) and a small amount of Durusdinium (D1: 1.03%) whereas P. cf. damicornis was found to be 100% associated with Durusdinium (D1: 95.58%, D6: 1.01% and D10: 2.7%) suggesting that each coral species may select their appropriate genus/species of Symbiodiniaceae in response to local environmental stressors. The results of this study provided some information on the coral-Symbiodiniaceae relationship between seasons, which may be applied to predict the potential adaptation of corals in localized reef environments.

Keywords: Acropora; Cladocopium; Corals; Durusdinium; Next Generation Sequencing; Pocillopora; Seasonal; Symbiodiniaceae; Thailand; Zooxanthellae.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acclimatization
Animals
Anthozoa* / physiology
Dinoflagellida*
Environment
Seasons

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund), the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. program (Grant No. PHD/0126/2558), the Thailand Research Fund, the NRCT-JSPS Core to Core Program, CREPSUM JPJSCCB20200009, the Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund Chulalongkorn University (CU_FRB65_dis (3)_091_23_23)), and Mubadala Petroleum (Thailand) Limited. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.