Metabolomics data for study entitled 'Species-specific variation in the metabolomic profiles of Acropora hyachintus and Acropora millepora mask acute temperature stress effects in adult coral colonies'.

Coral reefs are suffering unprecedented declines in health state on a global scale. Some researchers have suggested that human assisted evolution (HAE) or assisted gene flow (AGF) may be necessary in order to effectively restore reefs and pre-condition them for future climate change. An understanding of the key metabolic processes in corals under stress at the omic-scale would greatly facilitate the effective application of these methods. To date, however, there has been little research on corals at this scale, particularly with regard to basic metabolomics within Scleractinian corals. Here, the metabolomic profiles (measured using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)), of two dominant reef building corals, <i>Acropora hyacinthus</i> and <i>A. millepora,</i> from two distinct geographical locations (Australia, Great Barrier Reef and Singapore), were characterised. We assessed how an acute temperature stress (an increase of 3.25^◦C ± 0.28 from ambient, control levels over 8 days) shifted the corals’ baseline metabolomic profiles. Regardless of the profiling method utilised, metabolomic signatures of coral colonies were significantly distinct between coral species, a result supporting previous work. This strong species-specific metabolomic signature appeared to mask any changes resulting from the heat stress. This indicates that currently metabolomics may not be the most sensitive tool for use in studies assessing the effects of heat stress in adult colonies which are not plastic in their metabolomic response to the stress events. Further research is urgently needed in order to decouple individual and species-level metabolomic responses in corals to climate change.

全球范围内，珊瑚礁的健康状况正经历前所未有的衰退。部分研究者提出，为有效修复珊瑚礁并使其适应未来气候变化，人类辅助进化（Human Assisted Evolution, HAE）或辅助基因流动（Assisted Gene Flow, AGF）或成必要之举。在组学尺度下解析珊瑚受胁迫时的关键代谢过程，将极大助力上述方法的有效应用。然而迄今为止，该尺度下的珊瑚研究仍较为匮乏，针对石珊瑚目（Scleractinian corals）基础代谢组学的研究更是如此。本研究对采自两个不同地理位置（澳大利亚大堡礁与新加坡）的两种优势造礁珊瑚——*Acropora hyacinthus* 与 *A. millepora*——的代谢组学特征进行了表征，检测手段包括1H核磁共振波谱法（1H NMR）与超高效液相色谱-质谱联用法（LC-MS）。我们评估了急性温度胁迫（在8天内较环境对照水平升高3.25°C ±0.28°C）如何改变珊瑚的基础代谢组学特征。无论采用何种表征手段，不同珊瑚物种的珊瑚群落代谢组特征均存在显著差异，这一结果与此前的研究结论相符。这种显著的物种特异性代谢组特征似乎掩盖了热胁迫引发的任何变化。这表明，就当前而言，代谢组学或许并非评估成年珊瑚群落热胁迫效应的最灵敏工具——这类珊瑚的代谢组对胁迫事件的响应并不具有可塑性。亟需开展进一步研究，以厘清珊瑚个体与物种水平的代谢组对气候变化的响应差异。