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Publication Date

2022-05-09

First Advisor

Rachel M. Wright

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Biological Sciences

Keywords

coral reefs, Exaiptasia diaphana, Exaiptasia pallida, cnidarian, anemone, stress response, gene expression, body part specific, bioinformatics, WGCNA, gene annotation, model organism, RNA isolation, TagSeq, 16S, rRNA gene

Abstract

Coral reef ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change in a variety of ways. In light of the many ecosystem services provided by reefs, such as coastal protection and marine habitat formation, we must learn how to protect them. Scleractinian corals that serve as the backbone of this ecosystem are difficult to study in laboratory controlled research experiments. Exaiptasia diaphana was proposed as a new model organism for corals in 2008, and while it shows great promise for this purpose, there is still much to be learned about it to use it more effectively. One area in which knowledge in Exaiptasia is lacking is differential gene expression. Gene expression research is important for understanding model organisms, but it is difficult to draw valuable conclusions from these studies. This is because gene annotations are often either nonexistent or not applicable to understudied organisms. This project aims to explore body part- and symbiotic state-specific gene expression and identify candidate loci for further transcriptomic analysis in order to better understand the biological functions of under-characterized genes in Exaiptasia. To achieve this, differentially expressed gene functions in Exaiptasia were characterized across different body parts and symbiotic states using a meta-analysis of two datasets, and by providing experimental samples for future transcriptomic sequencing and inclusion in the meta-analysis. Weighted gene correlation network analysis yielded 10 groups of co-regulated genes (modules) associated with traits, of which 8 were significantly correlated to the traits of interest. Gene ontology analysis associated various biological processes with the modules that seemed to correlate well with their expression patterns across different traits. Future analysis will include a more comprehensive meta-analysis across various clonal anemone lines, as well as 16S rRNA sequencing to connect these gene expression data with microbiome information. These projects will help to characterize differentially expressed genes in Exaiptasia for future research.

Rights

©2022 Joanne Moseley. Access limited to the Smith College community and other researchers while on campus. Smith College community members also may access from off-campus using a Smith College log-in. Other off-campus researchers may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan for personal use.

Language

English

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