As reefs experience increasing loss of coral cover due to a variety of environmental events and stressors, genetic diversity in those affected populations continues to be lost. For coral species to be able to adapt to environmental stressors like climate change, genetic diversity is the key.
Ocean temperatures are getting warmer and hot temperatures can kill corals and degrade reefs. Throughout the 2023 Great Barrier Reef mass spawning season we are trialling two interventions – artificial selection and selective breeding – that aim to breed corals that are tolerant to high temperatures. Tolerant corals might be used to restore reefs threatened by climate change.
In the field, corals obtain sugars (their ‘fast food’) from their symbiotic algae. But most other nutrients are obtained when they feed on live plankton. However, in land-based coral aquaculture settings, these sources of nutrition are not normally available
This project is exploring technological and methodological options to automate, and upscale, the sexual propagation of corals in an aquaculture setting.
The CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system can be used to create genetic barcodes in individuals. This can be done by creating random mutations in a corals DNA that have no effect on the animal – similar to a tag. These sites of random mutations represent a unique genetic barcode that can be used not only to track the individual over its lifetime but potentially also its offspring. If this research shows the approach is viable, it is envisaged it could be co-developed with an eDNA detection capability to provide an essential tool for restoration and adaptation management.
Monitoring of these genetic barcodes can be merged with the above general genetic diversity monitoring to track coral at both the individual colony and population level. This would be extremely valuable for informing coral reef management and restoration, as it can give insight into how out-planted (barcoded) coral colonies are surviving, spreading, and integrating into the natural population and how general genetic diversity is changing in response to restoration efforts.
We aim to develop a way to test a corals' heat tolerance by measuring their gene expression in response to acute heat stress.
By observing how a coral upregulates (or increases activation of) certain genes in response to heat stress, we can predict its heat tolerance. When a coral upregulates a gene, it increases the amount of RNA produced by that gene. We can use CRISPR systems to measure RNA for specific genes, which can be visualised using a marker, similar to commonly used rapid RNA tests for COVID-19. This approach would provide a holistic, low-cost, high-throughput method for screening heat tolerance in corals.
Over the past five years, we have developed technology to make precise changes in the coral genome using CRISPR/Cas9.
Dr Line Bay, AIMS
Dr Phillip Cleves, Carnegie Institution for Science
Dr Luke Thomas, AIMS
Max Moonier, AIMS and UWA
Dr Severine Fourdrilis, AIMS
Dr Ryan Lister, UWA
Carnegie Institution for Science
Australian Institute of Marine Science
The European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
University of Western Australia
This page was updated in October 2024
The Great Barrier Reef annual mass spawning is an important time of year when corals and other reef animals reproduce. It is one of the most extraordinary natural phenomenon on the planet.
Corals, guided by seasonal warming, moon phases and tides, release egg and sperm into the water around the same time to create new corals. The event usually takes place on a handful of nights following the full moons in October and November, but sometimes in December. It occurs mostly under the cover of night.
The annual mass spawning of corals in the Great Barrier Reef is one of the most extraordinary natural phenomena on the planet. Scientists use this once-a-year opportunity to undertake valuable research needed to understand the early lives of coral.
AIMS scientists also investigate ways to enhance coral’s tolerance to warming oceans due to climate change and develop methods to scale up and fast-track coral recovery after disturbances.
The AIMS Research Data platform is a ‘research and development network’ driving solutions in new research in Australia’s Marine and Coastal ecosystems. It encompasses next-generation sensors, artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems and cloud computing to provide more comprehensive knowledge, faster, to inform sustainable management.
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