Data from: Seasonal temperature, the lunar cycle and diurnal rhythms interact in a combinatorial manner to modulate genomic responses to the environment in a reef-building coral

Rhythms of various periodicities drive cyclical processes in organisms
ranging from single cells to the largest mammals on earth, and on scales
from cellular physiology to global migrations. Molecular mechanisms that
generate circadian behaviours in model organisms are well studied, but
longer phase cycles and interactions between cycles with different
periodicities are not well understood. Broadcast spawning corals are one
of the best examples of an organism integrating inputs from multiple
environmental parameters including seasonal temperature, the lunar phase,
and hour of the day, to calibrate their annual reproductive event. We
present a deep RNA-seq experiment utilizing multiple analyses to
differentiate transcriptomic responses modulated by the interactions
between the three aforementioned environmental parameters. Acropora
millepora was sampled over multiple 24-hour periods throughout a full
lunar month and at two seasonal temperatures. Temperature, lunar and
diurnal cycles produce distinct transcriptomic responses, with
interactions between all three variables identifying a core set of genes.
These core genes include mef2, a developmental master regulator, and two
hnRNPs, one of which is known to post-transcriptionally interact with mef2
and with biological clock regulating mRNAs. Interactions between diurnal
and temperature differences impacted a range of core processes ranging
from biological clocks to stress responses. Genes involved with
developmental processes and transcriptional regulation were impacted by
the lunar phase and seasonal temperature differences. Lastly, there was a
diurnal and lunar phase interaction where genes involved with
RNA-processing and translational regulation were differentially regulated.
These data illustrate the extraordinary levels of transcriptional
variation across time in a simple radial cnidarian in response to the
environment under normal conditions.