Isolation and characterization of stress-responsive genes from the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis

In order to identify the expression of coral genes induced by stressors such as suspended red soil, mRNA differential display was examined for the coral Pocillopora damicornis. Apparent differences were observed in the gene expression profiles between control colonies and those treated with local red soil, indicating that red soil affects gene expression in P. damicornis. We cloned nine candidate PCR fragments derived from the differentially expressed genes. One of the clones, pPd9-1, showed a high similarity to a member of the heat-shock protein (HSP) 70 family, suggesting that red soil may cause protein denaturation in the coral. Reverse transcription-mediated PCR showed that the expression of pPd9-1 was also increased by elevated temperature, but not by reduced salinity.