Novel reference transcriptomes for the sponges Carteriospongia foliascens and Cliona orientalis and associated algal symbiont Gerakladium endoclionum

Transcriptomic analysis of sponges that have been exposed to different environmental conditions can improve our understanding of molecular stress response pathways and enhance our ability to effectively manage these ecologically important filter feeders.Two common and widely distributed Indo-Pacific sponge species—Carteriospongia foliascens and Cliona orientalis were collected in May 2015 from Fantome Island and Pelorus Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Since C. orientalis is a bio-eroding sponge, ten C. orientalis drill cores (* 5cmindiameter) were collected from a single individual growing on a dead colony of Porites sp. An individual of C.foliascens was cut into ten pieces (see Pineda et al. 2016). Sponges were healed and acclimated under natural light and flowthrough seawater for 4 weeks before experiments were performed.Sponges were subjected to five different treatments at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) National Sea Simulator: (i) decreased salinity, (ii) elevated temperature, (iii) elevated suspended sediment concentrations(SSCs) and sediment deposition, (iv) light attenuation, and(v) no stress control. Further details on these experiments can be found in Pineda et al. (2016).Transcriptome sequences were assembled for C. foliascens and C. ori-entalis and from the C. orientalis holobiont, i.e., host and symbiont, a partial reference transcriptome for Gerakladium endoclionum was constructed. Further details are found in the linked paper below Strehlow et al. (2021).