Gene expression of Pocillopora damicornis collected from reef of Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef from Jan 2021 to Feb 2021

Corals residing in habitats that experience frequent seawater pCO2 variability may possess an enhanced capacity to cope with ocean acidification. Yet, we lack a clear understanding of the molecular toolkit enabling acclimatization to environmental extremes, and how life-long exposure to pCO2 variability influences biomineralization.

We examined the gene expression responses and micro-skeletal characteristics of Pocillopora damicornis originating from the reef flat and reef slope of Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef. The reef flat (454 ± 3.0) and reef slope (418 ± 1.9) had similar mean seawater pCO2 (µatm; mean ± SE), but the reef flat experienced twice the mean daily pCO2 amplitude (range of 797v. 399 µatm day-1, respectively). A controlled mesocosm experiment was conducted over eight weeks, from mid-January to late-March 2021, exposing P. damicornis from the reef slope and reef flat to stable (218±9) or variable (911±31) diel pCO2 fluctuations (µatm; mean ± SE). This dataset includes the gene expression data for these samples.

栖息于频繁经历海水二氧化碳分压（seawater pCO₂）波动环境的珊瑚，或许具备更强的海洋酸化（ocean acidification）应对能力。但目前我们仍未明确支撑其适应极端环境的分子工具箱（molecular toolkit），以及终生暴露于pCO₂波动如何影响其生物矿化（biomineralization）过程。
本研究针对采自大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef）南部赫伦岛（Heron Island）礁坪（reef flat）与礁坡（reef slope）的杯形珊瑚（Pocillopora damicornis），分析其基因表达响应与微骨骼特征。其中，礁坪与礁坡的平均海水pCO₂（微大气压，µatm；平均值±标准误（SE））分别为454±3.0与418±1.9，二者均值相近，但礁坪的日均pCO₂波动幅度为礁坡的两倍（单日波动范围分别为797与399 µatm·d⁻¹）。
本研究于2021年1月中旬至3月下旬开展了为期8周的受控中型实验生态系统（mesocosm）实验，将来自礁坡与礁坪的杯形珊瑚分别暴露于稳定（218±9 µatm；平均值±标准误）或波动（911±31 µatm；平均值±标准误）的昼夜pCO₂波动环境中。本数据集包含上述样本的基因表达数据。