[B-PT02_1AM2] Biocalcification and the Geochemistry of Proxies

[BPT02-09] Using Acropora digitifera to bridge the gap between genome biology and geochemistry

*Tomoko BELL¹, Yusuke YOKOYAMA¹, Akira IGUCHI², Atsushi SUZUKI³ (1.Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, 2.Department of Bioresources Engineering, Okinawa National College of Technology, 3.The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Keywords:Acropora digitifera, Calcification, Gene, Skeletal elements

Coral's calcification mechanism has been receiving great attention in the fields of both geochemistry and biology. In geochemistry, high-resolution proxies using coral skeletal elements have been developed to reconstruct climate history (Gagan et al, 2012). In parallel, coral genomes have been sequenced progressively. However, trials that connect these two different fields of studies focusing on coral calcification have not been conducted yet. In this study, we focused on Acropora digitifera as the target species because enough genomic information is available (Shinzato, 2011) and its potential as geochemical proxies (Inoue, 2011). First, using ZoophyteBase, which has been recently developed as coral's proteome database (Dunlap et al, 2013), we investigated the genes that are potentially related to metabolism using inorganic minerals in seawater and analyzed their gene components and the correlations with seawater chemistry. Second, using next-generation sequencing, we are currently comparing Acropora digitefera's gene expression between fast and slow calcification lineages of this species. In addition, coral skeletal elements of these materials have been analyzed by ICP-AES. In this presentation, we report the progress of these analyses focusing on calcification related genes and skeletal elements. References: [1] Dunlap et al, 2013.BMC Genomics. DOI: 10.1029/2011PA002215 [2] Gagan, et al, 2012. Paleoceanography. DOI: 10.1029/2011PA002215 [3] Inoue et al, 2011. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2011GL047786 [4] Shinzato et al, 2011. Nature. DOI:10.1038/nature10249