Reciprocal transplant experiments of mutagen treated Symbiodiniaceae to ambient and elevated temperatures

We investigated the adaptive responses of coral photosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) following chemical mutagenesis and long-term thermal selection.

Strains of Durusdinium trenchii, Fugacium kawagutii and Symbiodinium pilosum were exposed to ethyl methanesulfonate to induce random mutagenesis, and then underwent thermal selection at 31/33°C. After 4.6-5 years of experimental evolution, the in vitro thermal tolerance of these strains was assessed via reciprocal transplant experiments to ambient (27°C) and elevated (31/35°C) temperatures. We measured the growth, photochemical efficiency, oxidative stress and nutrient use of these heat-evolved strains and wild-type strains under both temperature treatments.

This dataset contains data collected during the reciprocal transplant experiments. All the measurements were carried out at the Symbiont Culture Facility at AIMS between 01.10.2021 and 01.05.2022.