Abstract
As climate change challenges organismal fitness by creating a phenotype–environment mismatch, phenotypic plasticity generated by epigenetic mechanisms (e.g., DNA methylation) can provide a temporal buffer for genetic adaptation. Epigenetic mechanisms may be crucial for sessile benthic marine organisms, such as reef‐building corals, where ocean acidification (OA) and warming reflect in strong negative responses. We tested the potential for scleractinian corals to exhibit phenotypic plasticity associated with a change in DNA methylation in response to OA. Clonal coral fragments of the environmentally sensitive Pocillopora damicornis and more environmentally robust Montipora capitata were exposed to fluctuating ambient pH (7.9–7.65) and low pH (7.6–7.35) conditions in common garden tanks for ~6 weeks. M. capitata responded weakly, or acclimated more quickly, to OA, with no difference in calcification, minimal separation of metabolomic profiles, and no change in DNA methylation between treatments. Conversely, P. damicornis exhibited diminished calcification at low pH, stronger separation in metabolomic profiles, and responsiveness of DNA methylation to treatment. Our data suggest corals differ in their temporal dynamics and sensitivity for environmentally triggered real‐time epigenetic reprogramming. The generation of potentially heritable plasticity via environmental induction of DNA methylation provides an avenue for assisted evolution applications in corals under rapid climate change.
Highlights
Phenotypic plasticity is the flexibility for a single genotype to produce a range of responses to biotic and abiotic environmental conditions (Hochachka and Somero 2002)
Our results identify a stronger response of the sensitive coral species (P. damicornis) to OA and link phenotypic plasticity in response to ocean acidification to changes in DNA methylation, supporting a role of epigenetic control in the plasticity of corals
Our results support the finding that OA is an environmental signal that triggers phenotypic plasticity in corals
Summary
Phenotypic plasticity is the flexibility for a single genotype to produce a range of responses to biotic and abiotic environmental conditions (Hochachka and Somero 2002). Phenotypic plasticity, provides a real-time compensatory response to this rapid environmental change that can act to provide a temporal buffer during which genetic variation can respond under natural selection. The interplay of genetic and epigenetic variation results in emergent evolutionary properties that can influence the capacity for organisms to respond to swift environmental change (Ghalambor et al 2015). Epigenetic mechanisms provide capacity for the genome to produce multiple outcomes from the same genetic material, via changes in gene expression, induced by developmental differentiation (Waddington 1942) and environmental triggering (Bossdorf et al 2008; Feil and Fraga 2012). Epigenetics sensu stricto includes mechanisms such as control on gene expression via
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