Summary of Study ST004329
This data is available at the NIH Common Fund's National Metabolomics Data Repository (NMDR) website, the Metabolomics Workbench, https://www.metabolomicsworkbench.org, where it has been assigned Project ID PR002743. The data can be accessed directly via it's Project DOI: 10.21228/M83G2D This work is supported by NIH grant, U2C- DK119886. See: https://www.metabolomicsworkbench.org/about/howtocite.php
| Study ID | ST004329 |
| Study Title | Acute heat stress redirects coral carbon budgets: integrative evidence from physiology and metabolomics |
| Study Summary | Marine heatwaves increasingly disrupt coral carbon budgets, yet how thermal stress reshapes whole-holobiont carbon fixation across species remains insufficiently resolved. Here, paired carbon-flux components—total photosynthetic carbon fixation (TPCF) and total calcification-associated carbon fixation (TCCF)—were quantified in three reef-building corals from the northern South China Sea (Acropora hyacinthus, Pocillopora damicornis, Porites lutea) under controlled acute warming and were integrated with photophysiology and untargeted metabolomics. Across taxa, TPCF declined with temperature in concert with reduced PSII efficiency, whereas TCCF decreased in all species and, under severe heat, shifted to net dissolution in the branching A. hyacinthus and P. damicornis; by contrast, the thick-tissued P. lutea retained a marginally positive calcification-associated flux. Metabolomic enrichment indicated heat-induced rewiring of central carbon metabolism away from growth toward maintenance and repair, with constrained photosynthate preferentially routed to nucleotide biosynthesis (purine/pyrimidine), translational supply (aminoacyl-tRNA), and membrane-lipid remodeling. These coordinated reallocations provide a mechanistic basis for divergent calcification outcomes—preservation of minimal accretion in P. lutea versus rapid stalling of light-enhanced calcification and skeletal dissolution in branching taxa. At the community scale, the contrasted strategies imply that repeated heatwaves may favor more stress-tolerant, thick-tissued assemblages and erode carbonate-budget capacity in branching communities. Although the metabolomics employed here capture holobiont-level signals and do not partition host versus Symbiodiniaceae contributions, the paired-flux–omics framework establishes a process-level link between photosynthate constraint, carbon-allocation decisions, and calcification outcomes, yielding tractable indicators for forecasting functional resilience and evaluating interventions under intensifying thermal extremes. |
| Institute | Chinese Academy of Sciences |
| Last Name | Tang |
| First Name | Shuo |
| Address | Guangzhou, Guangdong, China |
| tangshuo23@mails.ucas.ac.cn | |
| Phone | 19875477513 |
| Submit Date | 2025-10-29 |
| Raw Data Available | Yes |
| Raw Data File Type(s) | mzXML |
| Analysis Type Detail | LC-MS |
| Release Date | 2025-11-07 |
| Release Version | 1 |
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Collection:
| Collection ID: | CO004477 |
| Collection Summary: | Coral samples for this study were collected in September 2024 from three reef-building species: Acropora hyacinthus, Pocillopora damicornis, and Porites lutea, sourced from the Luhuitou Fringing Reef in Sanya Bay, Hainan, China (18°12′N, 109°28′E). The corals were harvested from approximately 3 meters depth in the reef ecosystem. Three colonies were obtained for each species, with each colony fragmented into 2-cm nubbins, resulting in a total of 36 nubbins per species. These nubbins were carefully selected from non-marginal, visibly healthy portions of the colonies. Each nubbin was fixed to a numbered ceramic plug using cyanoacrylate gel and allowed to acclimate for 7 days in the station’s indoor coral aquaculture system. This acclimatization was conducted to minimize stress caused by fragmentation and handling, replicating natural environmental conditions as closely as possible, including temperature control, light intensity, and water flow. Upon completion of the acclimation period, the nubbins were randomly assigned to one of three temperature treatment groups (control, moderate heat, severe heat) and placed in separate 12-L tanks under controlled conditions. The formal experiment, spanning from September 24 to September 30, 2024, exposed the coral nubbins to varying temperatures: 27°C (control), 31°C (moderate heat), and 34°C (severe heat). The water temperature was monitored and adjusted to reflect the target conditions, with temperature data logged every 15 minutes. The experimental setup aimed to assess the physiological and metabolic responses of these coral species under heat stress conditions, integrating measurements of photosynthetic carbon fixation, calcification, and metabolomic shifts. This study focused on understanding species-specific adaptations to thermal stress by measuring changes in both metabolic fluxes and symbiotic carbon allocation. |
| Sample Type: | Coral holobiont |
