| The soft coral, Sinularia polydactyla, is abundant in shallow coral reef habitats in Guam. This species exhibits biochemical phenotypic plasticity, likely caused by fish predation. To examine the link between secondary metabolite production and changes in gene expression, both transcriptome and secondary metabolite profiles were collected from each experimental sample. Changes in transcriptome complexity of cDNA libraries were measured using a Cot-type, reannealing assay that employs an informatics-based analysis of kinetic profiles. Transcriptome profiling of corals from two different predation experiments showed significant changes in a group of transcripts reannealing at 64°C. Similarly, significant differences in the feeding-deterrent compound, 11beta-acetoxypukalide, were detected via HPLC. In an artificial predation experiment, 11beta-acetyoxypukalide concentrations were highly correlated to the transcriptome changes observed at 64°C.;The transcriptome profiling assay was also used to detect inter- and intra-species differences among individuals of S. polydactyla, S. maxima, and their putative hybrid. Although the overall profiles possessed similar characteristics, the three species were significantly different from each other. Furthermore, a comparison of adult female, adult male, and juvenile S. polydactyla colonies showed that juveniles have significantly different gene expression patterns from adults. Inter-species gene expression differences were found to be larger than intra-species differences.;The data presented here show the usefulness of the transcriptome profiling assay for detecting gene expression differences in varied experimental groups. Furthermore, these data integrate chemical changes with gene expression changes, answering questions concerning the role of environmental stress in chemical defense responses. Further investigation may uncover specific genes involved in secondary metabolite production and/or synthesis pathways. |
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