Data from: Genomic determinants of coral heat tolerance across latitudes

As global warming continues, reef-building corals could avoid local population declines through “genetic rescue” involving exchange of heat-tolerant genotypes across latitudes, but only if latitudinal variation in thermal tolerance is heritable. Here, we show an up–to–10-fold increase in odds of survival of coral larvae under heat stress when their parents come from a warmer lower-latitude location. Elevated thermal tolerance was associated with heritable differences in expression of oxidative, extracellular, transport, and mitochondrial functions that indicated a lack of prior stress. Moreover, two genomic regions strongly responded to selection for thermal tolerance in interlatitudinal crosses. These results demonstrate that variation in coral thermal tolerance across latitudes has a strong genetic basis and could serve as raw material for natural selection.

随着全球变暖持续加剧，造礁珊瑚或可通过“遗传拯救（genetic rescue）”避免局地种群衰退——该策略即通过跨纬度交换耐热基因型（heat-tolerant genotypes），但前提是耐热性的纬度差异具备可遗传性。本研究显示，当珊瑚幼体的亲本来自更温暖的低纬度区域时，其在热胁迫下的存活几率最高提升10倍。热耐受性的增强与氧化、细胞外功能、物质转运及线粒体功能的可遗传性表达差异显著相关，且此类差异表明受试个体此前未经历胁迫。此外，在跨纬度杂交群体中，有两个基因组区域（genomic regions）对耐热性选择呈现强烈响应。本研究结果证实，珊瑚耐热性的纬度差异具备坚实的遗传基础，可作为自然选择（natural selection）的原材料。