Metabolomics Characterization of Scleractinia Corals with Different Life-History Strategies: A Case Study about <i>Pocillopora meandrina</i> and <i>Seriatopora hystrix</i> in the South China Sea
Jiying Pei,
Shiguo Chen,
Kefu Yu,
Junjie Hu,
Yitong Wang,
Jingjing Zhang,
Zhenjun Qin,
Ruijie Zhang,
Ting-Hao Kuo,
Hsin-Hsiang Chung,
Cheng-Chih Hsu
Affiliations
Jiying Pei
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Shiguo Chen
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Kefu Yu
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Junjie Hu
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Yitong Wang
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Jingjing Zhang
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Zhenjun Qin
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Ruijie Zhang
Coral Reef Research Center of China, Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530000, China
Ting-Hao Kuo
Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Hsin-Hsiang Chung
Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Cheng-Chih Hsu
Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Life-history strategies play a critical role in susceptibility to environmental stresses for Scleractinia coral. Metabolomics, which is capable of determining the metabolic responses of biological systems to genetic and environmental changes, is competent for the characterization of species’ biological traits. In this study, two coral species (Pocillopora meandrina and Seriatopora hystrix in the South China Sea) with different life-history strategies (“competitive” and “weedy”) were targeted, and untargeted mass spectrometry metabolomics combined with molecular networking was applied to characterize their differential metabolic pathways. The results show that lyso-platelet activating factors (lyso-PAFs), diacylglyceryl carboxyhydroxymethylcholine (DGCC), aromatic amino acids, and sulfhydryl compounds were more enriched in P. meandrina, whereas new phospholipids, dehydrated phosphoglycerol dihydroceramide (de-PG DHC), monoacylglycerol (MAG), fatty acids (FA) (C S. hystrix. The metabolic pathways involved immune response, energy metabolism, cellular membrane structure regulation, oxidative stress system, secondary metabolite synthesis, etc. While the immune system (lysoPAF) and secondary metabolite synthesis (aromatic amino acids and sulfhydryl compounds) facilitates fast growth and resistance to environmental stressors of P. meandrina, the cell membrane structure (structural lipids), energy storage (storage lipids), oxidative stress system (short peptides), and secondary metabolite synthesis (guanidine compounds) are beneficial to the survival of S. hystrix in harsh conditions. This study contributes to the understanding of the potential molecular traits underlying life-history strategies of different coral species.
