ENGINEERING MICROBIAL SYMBIONTS THAT INCREASE CORAL CLIMATE RESILIENCE

A candidate transporter allowing symbiotic dinoflagellates to feed their coral hosts.

Keren Maor-Landaw, Marion Eisenhut, Giada Tortorelli, Allison van de Meene, Samantha Kurz, Gabriela Segal, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Andreas PM Weber, Geoffrey I McFadden

2023-01-28

The symbiotic partnership between corals and dinoflagellate algae is crucial to coral reefs. Corals provide their algal symbionts ..

Colonization and metabolite profiles of homologous, heterologous and experimentally evolved algal symbionts in the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana

Sarah Jane Tsang Min Ching, Wing Yan Chan, Alexis Perez-Gonzalez, Katie E Hillyer, Patrick Buerger, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-12-01

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The sea anemone, <jats:italic>Exaiptasia diaphana</jats:italic>, is a model of coral-dino..

Coral holobiont research needs spatial analyses at the microbial scale

Madeleine JH van Oppen, Jean-Baptiste Raina

2022-11-21

Advancing the protection of marine life through genomics

Madeleine JH van Oppen, Melinda A Coleman

2022-10-01

The rapid growth in genomic techniques provides the potential to transform how we protect, manage, and conserve marine life. Furth..

The coral Acropora loripes genome reveals an alternative pathway for cysteine biosynthesis in animals

Octavio R Salazar, N Arun Prasanna, Guoxin Cui, Line K Bay, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Nicole S Webster, Manuel Aranda

2022-09-23

The metabolic capabilities of animals have been derived from well-studied model organisms and are generally considered to be well ..

Improved Cladocopium goreaui Genome Assembly Reveals Features of a Facultative Coral Symbiont and the Complex Evolutionary History of Dinoflagellate Genes

Yibi Chen, Sarah Shah, Katherine E Dougan, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Debashish Bhattacharya, Cheong Xin Chan

2022-08-01

Dinoflagellates of the family Symbiodiniaceae are crucial photosymbionts in corals and other marine organisms. Of these, Cladocopi..

Lack of evidence for the oxidative stress theory of bleaching in the sea anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana, under elevated temperature

AM Dungan, J Maire, A Perez-Gonzalez, LL Blackall, MJH van Oppen

2022-08-01

To survive in nutrient-poor waters corals rely on a symbiotic association with intracellular microalgae. However, increased sea te..

Long-Term Heat Selection of the Coral Endosymbiont Cladocopium C1(acro) (Symbiodiniaceae) Stabilizes Associated Bacterial Communities

Patrick Buerger, Ruby T Vanstone, Justin Maire, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-05-01

Heat-tolerant strains of the coral endosymbiont, Cladocopium C1acro (Symbiodiniaceae), have previously been developed via experime..

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM): a non-traditional approach to study host-microbial symbioses

Pranali Deore, Iromi Wanigasuriya, Sarah Jane Tsang Min Ching, Douglas R Brumley, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Linda L Blackall, Elizabeth Hinde

2022-04-14

Corals and their photosynthetic endosymbiotic algae (Symbiodiniaceae) produce a strong autofluorescent signal that spans the visib..

Predictive models for the selection of thermally tolerant corals based on offspring survival

KM Quigley, MJH van Oppen

2022-03-29

Finding coral reefs resilient to climate warming is challenging given the large spatial scale of reef ecosystems. Methods are need..

Effects of Ocean Warming on the Underexplored Members of the Coral Microbiome

Justin Maire, Patrick Buerger, Wing Yan Chan, Pranali Deore, Ashley M Dungan, Matthew R Nitschke, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-03-08

The climate crisis is one of the most significant threats to marine ecosystems. It is leading to severe increases in sea surface t..

Exploring microbiome engineering as a strategy for improved thermal tolerance in Exaiptasia diaphana

Ashley M Dungan, Leon M Hartman, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-02-19

AIMS: Fourteen percent of all living coral, equivalent to more than all the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, has died in the past ..

A role for bacterial experimental evolution in coral bleaching mitigation?

Justin Maire, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-02-14

Coral reefs are rapidly declining because of widespread mass coral bleaching causing extensive coral mortality. Elevated seawater ..

Evidence for de novo acquisition of microalgal symbionts by bleached adult corals

Hugo J Scharfenstein, Wing Yan Chan, Patrick Buerger, Craig Humphrey, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-02-07

Early life stages of most coral species acquire microalgal endosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) from the environment, but whether exoge..

Horizon scan of rapidly advancing coral restoration approaches for 21st century reef management

David J Suggett, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-02-04

Coral reef restoration activity is accelerating worldwide in efforts to offset the rate of reef health declines. Many advances hav..

Challenges of sperm cryopreservation in transferring heat adaptation of corals across ocean basins.

Emily J Howells, Mary Hagedorn, Madeleine JH Van Oppen, John A Burt

2022-01-27

Reef-building corals live very close to their upper thermal limits and their persistence is imperiled by a rapidly warming climate..

Antibiotics reduce bacterial load in Exaiptasia diaphana, but biofilms hinder its development as a gnotobiotic coral model.

Leon M Hartman, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-01-24

Coral reefs are declining due to anthropogenic disturbances, including climate change. Therefore, improving our understanding of c..

Temperature-mediated acquisition of rare heterologous symbionts promotes survival of coral larvae under ocean warming

Shayle B Matsuda, Leela J Chakravarti, Ross Cunning, Ariana S Huffmyer, Craig E Nelson, Ruth D Gates, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2022-01-05

Reef-building corals form nutritional symbioses with endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodiniaceae), a relationship that facilita..

Intracellular Bacterial Symbionts in Corals: Challenges and Future Directions

Justin Maire, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2021-11-01

Corals are the main primary producers of coral reefs and build the three-dimensional reef structure that provides habitat to more ..

Cell wall proteomic analysis of the cnidarian photosymbionts Breviolum minutum and Cladocopium goreaui

Giada Tortorelli, Clinton A Oakley, Simon K Davy, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Geoffrey McFadden

2021-09-15

The algal cell wall is an important cellular component that functions in defense, nutrient utilization, signaling, adhesion, and c..

Coral adaptation to climate change: Meta-analysis reveals high heritability across multiple traits

Kevin R Bairos-Novak, Mia O Hoogenboom, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Sean R Connolly

2021-09-05

Anthropogenic climate change is a rapidly intensifying selection pressure on biodiversity across the globe and, particularly, on t..

Signatures of Adaptation and Acclimatization to Reef Flat and Slope Habitats in the Coral Pocillopora damicornis

Shelby R Marhoefer, Kyall R Zenger, Jan M Strugnell, Murray Logan, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Carly D Kenkel, Line K Bay

2021-09-03

Strong population-by-habitat interactions across environmental gradients arise from genetic adaptation or acclimatization and repr..

Cell surface carbohydrates of symbiotic dinoflagellates and their role in the establishment of cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis

Giada Tortorelli, Carsten Rautengarten, Antony Bacic, Gabriela Segal, Berit Ebert, Simon K Davy, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Geoffrey McFadden

2021-07-20

Symbiodiniaceae algae are often photosymbionts of reef-building corals. The establishment of their symbiosis resembles a microbial..

Development of a free radical scavenging bacterial consortium to mitigate oxidative stress in cnidarians

Ashley M Dungan, Dieter Bulach, Heyu Lin, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Linda L Blackall

2021-07-14

Corals are colonized by symbiotic microorganisms that profoundly influence the animal's health. One noted symbiont is a single-cel..

Microbiome characterization of defensive tissues in the model anemone Exaiptasia diaphana

Justin Maire, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2021-05-21

BACKGROUND: Coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. This success relies on the coral's associat..

Variability in Fitness Trade-Offs Amongst Coral Juveniles With Mixed Genetic Backgrounds Held in the Wild

Kate M Quigley, Magena Marzonie, Blake Ramsby, David Abrego, Grant Milton, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Line K Bay

2021-02-26

Novel restoration methods are currently under consideration worldwide to help coral reefs recover or become more resilient to high..

Adaptive responses of free-living and symbiotic microalgae to simulated future ocean conditions

Wing Yan Chan, John G Oakeshott, Patrick Buerger, Owain R Edwards, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2021-02-20

Marine microalgae are a diverse group of microscopic eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms capable of photosynthesis. They are impo..

Intracellular bacteria are common and taxonomically diverse in cultured and in hospite algal endosymbionts of coral reefs

Justin Maire, Sam K Girvan, Sophie E Barkla, Alexis Perez-Gonzalez, David J Suggett, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2021-02-08

Corals house a variety of microorganisms which they depend on for their survival, including endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiod..

Maternal effects in gene expression of interspecific coral hybrids

Wing Yan Chan, Jessica Chung, Lesa M Peplow, Ary A Hoffmann, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2021-01-29

Maternal effects have been well documented for offspring morphology and life history traits in plants and terrestrial animals, yet..

Short-Term Exposure to Sterile Seawater Reduces Bacterial Community Diversity in the Sea Anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana

Ashley M Dungan, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Linda L Blackall

2021-01-21

The global decline of coral reefs heightens the need to understand how corals may persist under changing environmental conditions...

A breakthrough in understanding the molecular basis of coral heat tolerance

Madeleine JH van Oppen, John G Oakeshottc

2020-11-17

Reef-building corals are cnidarian animals (Anthozoa, Scleractinia) that mostly live in colonies composed of hundreds of thousands..

Coral evolutionary responses to microbial symbioses

Madeleine JH van Oppen, Monica Medina

2020-09-28

While species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to predict the vulnerability of species to climate change, they do not ex..

Genome-wide SNP analysis reveals an increase in adaptive genetic variation through selective breeding of coral

Kate M Quigley, Line K Bay, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-06-20

Marine heat waves are increasing in magnitude, duration, and frequency as a result of climate change and are the principal global ..

Assessment of bacterial community composition within and among Acropora loripes colonies in the wild and in captivity

Katarina Damjanovic, Linda L Blackall, Lesa M Peplow, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-05-29

A growing number of studies have provided insights into the diversity of coral-associated bacteria and their function in the coral..

Gene regulation underpinning increased thermal tolerance in a laboratory-evolved coral photosymbiont

Leela J Chakravarti, Patrick Buerger, Rachel A Levin, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-05-25

Small increases in ocean temperature can disrupt the obligate symbiosis between corals and dinoflagellate microalgae, resulting in..

Heat-evolved microalgal symbionts increase coral bleaching tolerance

P Buerger, C Alvarez-Roa, CW Coppin, SL Pearce, LJ Chakravarti, JG Oakeshott, R Edwards, MJH van Oppen

2020-05-13

Coral reefs worldwide are suffering mass mortalities from marine heat waves. With the aim of enhancing coral bleaching tolerance, ..

Microbiota characterization of Exaiptasia diaphana from the Great Barrier Reef.

Leon Michael Hartman, Madeleine Josephine Henriette van Oppen, Linda Louise Blackall

2020-04-05

BACKGROUND: Coral reefs have sustained damage of increasing scale and frequency due to climate change, thereby intensifying the ne..

Early Life Stages of a Common Broadcast Spawning Coral Associate with Specific Bacterial Communities Despite Lack of Internalized Bacteria

Katarina Damjanovic, Patricia Menendez, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-04-01

Coral-associated bacteria are critical for the well-being of their host and may play essential roles during ontogeny, as suggested..

Exaiptasia diaphana from the great barrier reef: a valuable resource for coral symbiosis research

Ashley M Dungan, Leon M Hartman, Giada Tortorelli, Roy Belderok, Annika M Lamb, Lynn Pisan, Geoffrey I McFadden, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-02-06

The sea anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana, previously known as Exaiptasia pallida or Aiptasia pallida, has become increasingly popular ..

Symbiodiniaceae-bacteria interactions: rethinking metabolite exchange in reef-building corals as multi-partner metabolic networks

Jennifer L Matthews, Jean-Baptiste Raina, Tim Kahlke, Justin R Seymour, Madeleine JH van Oppen, David J Suggett

2020-01-23

The intimate relationship between scleractinian corals and their associated microorganisms is fundamental to healthy coral reef ec..

Host Genotypic Effect on Algal Symbiosis Establishment in the Coral Model, the Anemone Exaiptasia diaphana, From the Great Barrier Reef

Giada Tortorelli, Roy Belderok, Simon K Davy, Geoffrey McFadden, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-01-22

The mutualistic symbiosis between cnidarians and photosynthetic dinoflagellates supports one of the most diverse ecosystems on the..

Assessing the role of historical temperature regime and alga symbionts on the heat tolerance of coral juveniles

KM Quigley, CJ Randall, MJH van Oppen, LK Bay

2020-01-01

The rate of coral reef degradation from climate change is accelerating and, as a consequence, a number of interventions to increas..

Mixed-mode bacterial transmission in the common brooding coral Pocillopora acuta

Katarina Damjanovic, Patricia Menendez, Linda L Blackall, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2020-01-01

Reef-building corals form associations with a huge diversity of microorganisms, which are essential for the survival and well-bein..

The Effect of Thermal Stress on the Bacterial Microbiome of Exaiptasia diaphana

Leon M Hartman, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Linda L Blackall

2020-01-01

Coral bleaching linked to climate change has generated interest in the response of coral's bacterial microbiome to thermal stress...

Bacterial and algal symbiont dynamics in early recruits exposed to two adult coral species

Katarina Damjanovic, Linda L Blackall, Patricia Menendez, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2019-11-12

Corals live in a symbiotic relationship with various microorganisms including bacteria, some of which are essential for host healt..

The active spread of adaptive variation for reef resilience

Kate M Quigley, Line K Bay, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2019-09-02

The speed at which species adapt depends partly on the rates of beneficial adaptation generation and how quickly they spread withi..

Coral microbiome dynamics, functions and design in a changing world

Madeleine JH van Oppen, Linda L Blackall

2019-09-01

Corals associate not only with dinoflagellates, which are their algal endosymbionts and which have been extensively studied over t..

Temporal Variation in the Microbiome of Acropora Coral Species Does Not Reflect Seasonality

Hannah E Epstein, Hillary A Smith, Neal E Cantin, Veronique JL Mocellin, Gergely Torda, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2019-08-16

The coral microbiome is known to fluctuate in response to environmental variation and has been suggested to vary seasonally. Howev..

The roles of age, parentage and environment on bacterial and algal endosymbiont communities in Acropora corals

Wing Yan Chan, Lesa M Peplow, Patricia Menendez, Ary A Hoffmann, Madeleine JH van Oppen

2019-08-01

The bacterial and microalgal endosymbiont (Symbiodiniaceae spp.) communities associated with corals have important roles in their ..

Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea

Katarina Damjanovic, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Patricia Menendez, Linda L Blackall

2019-07-24

Coral-associated microorganisms are essential for maintaining the health of the coral holobiont by participating in nutrient cycli..

Observations of Simultaneous Sperm Release and Larval Planulation Suggest Reproductive Assurance in the Coral Pocillopora acuta

Hillary A Smith, Aurelie Moya, Neal E Cantin, Madeleine JH van Oppen, Gergely Torda

2019-06-26

Despite being an extensively studied group of corals, the reproductive biology of the scleractinian genus Pocillopora remains a my..