Coral Gene Expression After Transplantation to a Nearshore Environment

A transcriptomic dataset from June to October 2021 examines the molecular response of the critically endangered coral Acropora cervicornis following transplantation. The data includes gene expression profiles for 12 samples from three coral genotypes transplanted from an offshore nursery in Key Biscayne, Florida, to a nearshore, urbanized site in the Port of Miami. It was authored by Allyson DeMerlis and shared under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Identify stress-response genes in corals based on upregulated pathways like heat shock proteins and detoxification.
• Compare host and symbiont gene expression profiles between nursery and outplanted corals.
• Assess genotype-specific molecular responses to transplantation for restoration planning.
• Investigate immune signaling and cellular reorganization pathways activated in marginal environments.
• Perform weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) on coral transcriptomic data.

Strengths

• Includes 12 quality-filtered transcriptomic samples for analysis.
• Compares gene expression across two distinct sites (offshore nursery and nearshore outplant).
• Analyzes expression for 1,126 significantly differentially expressed genes (961 upregulated, 165 downregulated).
• Focuses on three specific coral genotypes, allowing for genotype-level comparisons.

Limitations

• Row and column counts are unknown, limiting precise assessment of dataset scale and structure.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (133.4 KB), indicating limited scope, likely containing summary results rather than raw sequence data.

Provenance

Source

Allyson DeMerlis

Collection Method

Transcriptomic analysis of coral samples collected before and after a four-month transplantation period.

Time Range

June 2021 to October 2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-25 04:34:52; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Key Biscayne and Port of Miami, Florida, USA