MER: Metabolic Characteristics of Corals from Weizhou Island in Response to Extreme High Temperature Events

Recently, under the guidance of teacher Zhang Man, our master's students Huang Shan and Luo Li, as joint first authors, published a research article titled "Metabolic signatures of two scleractinian corals from the northern South China Sea in response to extreme high temperature events" in the prestigious marine science journal Marine Environmental Research.

Global coral bleaching events have occurred frequently in recent years, leading to extensive coral mortality. However, different individuals within the same coral species exhibit varying sensitivities to bleaching events, and our understanding of the underlying metabolic mechanisms remains limited. During the 2020 marine heatwave event, corals on Weizhou Island experienced extensive bleaching, while some corals did not bleach. In this study, non-targeted metabolomics analysis was carried out on the bleached and unbleached Pavona decussata and Acropora pruinosa in Weizhou Island to explore the different responses of different coral individuals to bleaching events. The results show that compared to unbleached corals, both P. decussata and A. pruinosa that experienced bleaching significantly accumulated energy metabolites, antioxidants, and inflammation markers while reducing energy storage substances such as glutamine and inosine. Differential metabolites were significantly enriched in pathways such as ABC transporters, nucleotide metabolism, and lipid metabolism, indicating oxidative stress and energy metabolism disorders in bleached corals. Heat stress had different impacts on the metabolic pathways of these two corals. P. decussata activated the TCA cycle, anaerobic metabolism, and amino acid degradation to cope with energy deficiency, while A. pruinosa significantly altered the levels of various peptides that affect amino acid metabolism. Furthermore, coral osmoregulation potential was related to their ability to tolerate natural heat-stress environments. These results suggest that differences in the content of energy substances, oxidative stress markers, and osmoregulatory substances may reflect the biological responses of corals to natural heat stress. This study revealed the metabolic responses of two species of coral in Weizhou Island during extreme high temperature events, and the results will be helpful to understand the heat tolerance mechanism and development trend of coral in the context of global warming. The metabolic characteristics of bleached corals have undergone significant changes.

For more details, please refer to the article:

Huang Shan, Luo Li, Wen Beihua, Liu Xurui, Yu Kefu, Zhang Man. Metabolic signatures of two scleractinian corals from the northern South China Sea in response to extreme high temperature events. Marine Environmental Research, 2024, 198, 106490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106490