Slight thermal stress exerts genetic diversity selection at coral (Acropora digitifera) larval stages
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Rising seawater temperatures increasingly threaten coral reefs. The ability of coral larvae to withstand heat is crucial for maintaining reef ecosystems. Although several studies have investigated coral larvae's genetic responses to thermal stress, most relied on pooled sample sequencing, which provides population-level insights but may mask individual genotype variability. This study uses individual larval sequencing to investigate genotype-specific responses to heat stress and the selective pressures shaping their genomes, offering finer resolution and deeper insights. RESULTS: This study investigates the larval response to heat stress before acquiring symbiotic algae, aiming to elucidate the relationship between coral genetic diversity and heat stress. Larvae sourced from eight Acropora digitifera colonies were subjected to ambient temperature (28 °C) and heat conditions (31 °C). The impact of heat stress on larval genetic diversity was assessed through sequencing. While overall genetic diversity, represented by π, did not significantly differ between the control and heat-exposed groups, Tajima's D differed, indicating different selective pressures in each group. The genomic regions under higher and lower Tajima's D were not broadly shared among control and head conditions, implying that selective pressures operated in distinctive manners. Many larval protein-coding sequences were identified in this genomic region, and the codon evolution of many of these genes showed signs of positive selection. These results highlight the complex selective pressures on coral larvae under different temperatures. The genes showing signs of positive selection in response to heat stress may have also been influenced by historical temperature fluctuations, as suggested by their association with loci identified during Acroporid speciation. These loci under codon-level positive selection during speciation highlight the potential role of genetic diversity in shaping adaptation to environmental changes over evolutionary timescales. CONCLUSION: These findings underscore the significance of genetic diversity in coral reproduction for maintaining reef ecosystems. They also indicate that even minor heat stress can exert significant selective pressure, potentially leading to profound implications for coral reef ecosystems. This research is crucial for understanding the impact of rising seawater temperatures on coral reefs.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".