2018 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
| Project/Area Number |
18J20226
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| Research Institution | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University |
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Principal Investigator |
Chuang Po Shun 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 科学技術研究科, 特別研究員(DC1)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-25 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | Polyp bail-out / Hyperosmosis / Pocilloporidae |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the FY2018 I conducted a survey of polyp bail-out on five coral species under three different stresses (salinity-raising, static water, and acidification). among the three methods, only the salinity-raising method induces polyp bail-out in the tested corals. Also, polyp bail-out was only observed in corals of the Pocilloporidae, whereas the Acropora coral tested in this project showed no polyp bail-out response to any of the three stresses.
Detached polyps were found to be viable for two weeks after a sharp salinity-raising polyp bail-out induction, but degenerated and died in three days after a mild/prolonged salinity-raising polyp bail0out induction. The sharp salinity-raising method is therefore chosen to be applied to the following stages of this project.
For the transcriptome analysis for investigating polyp bail-out mechanism, RNA samples have all been sent for sequencing. The RNAseq data are now under analysis, which is expected to be done in the middle of FY2019.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The first stage of this project has been done. The survey, although not completed due to insufficiency of species, does shows the applicability of salinity-raising method to polyp bail-out induction. This method is therefore applied in the following experiments in this project. Detached polyps, however, couldn't be resettled after polyp bail-out. The second stage of this project is therefore slightly modified to make do.
In the second stage, free-living, solitary polyps will be used instead of resettled ones for the polyp-scale experiments. This modification will introduce addition factors in explaining the results, but should not affect the ultimate aim of this project.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the following year I will apply the salinity-increasing method to the induction of polyp bail-out in Pocillopora acuta. Detached polyps will be kept in non-stress condition for 5 days and recorded for the recovery. Stress gene expressions and morphology change will be used as indicators for the recovery of polyps. After the recovery, detached, solitary polyps, as well as colonial coral nubbins of the same species will be subjected to a heat shock stress to investigate their responses. Two transcriptome analyses will be conducted to investigate the molecular response difference between solitary polyps and colonial coral under different stress levels. The results are expected to reveal emergent property of corals from polyp to colony.
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