Abstract
Endeavoring to improve our understanding in scleractinian evolution as a lineage and as a system, the present proposal consists of two stages motivated to create and consolidate a research line on RNA/DNA deep sequencing and its usefulness at the Marine Science Department of the São Paulo Federal University (DCMar-UNIFESP). Based on the first azooxanthellate coral transcriptomes (1 species - Madrepora oculata [scleractinian coral bearing the widest worldwide distribution], 18 transcriptomes of which 6 from shallow water specimens [<50], 6 from deep waters [>200]) and 6 specimens subjected to thermal and pH stress) the first stage aims to improve our understanding on the genetic basis from the main reef framework builders, as well as to identify genes potentially related to physiological adaptations to low temperatures, calcification on extreme environments, etc. Also using NGS platforms, the second stage of the project aims to partially sequence the genome from 100 scleractinian species (symbiotic [50] and aposymbiotic [50]) in order to reconstruct a robust evolutionary history of the order, shedding light into its relationships to Corallimorpharia as well as within scleractinian "sub-orders" and families. Furthermore, the phylogenomic reconstruction will be submitted to molecular clock techniques calibrated using the earliest fossils that can be unambiguously assigned to extant clades and whose unique skeletal characters can be unequivocally recognized in fossil coralla, enabling the estimation of every node divergence time. These results are going to be correlated with paleo-environmental data (temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration) with the aspiration to set robust hypothesis uniting shallow and deep-water reefs and climate change. The proposed research line will significantly contribute to the knowledge of the major architects of shallow- and deep-water coral reefs in times not just of major scientific interest, but also intense public and media concern because of the uncertain fate of these ecosystems in the face of ever increasing anthropogenic challenges. (AU)
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