Conkling Megan, Hindle Tobin, Xie Zhixiao, Liu Weibo, Moore Timothy, Pomponi Shirley A
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, 5600 US 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL, 34946, USA.
Department of Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2025 May 22. doi: 10.1007/s11626-025-01034-1.
Coral reefs are threatened by recurrent mortality incidents in their native habitats brought on by natural and anthropogenic stressors. Elevated temperature has been indicated as a major causing factor. Although ongoing research is focused on corals, sponges are an important benthic organism on coral reefs and are often overlooked. An accurate and standardized method is needed to determine the environmental limits and thresholds of sponges commonly found on coral reefs. We established an in vitro sponge cell model and evaluated the effect of elevated temperatures on primary cell cultures of five common Florida reef sponges-Agelas clathrodes, Aplysina fulva, Cliona varians, Geodia neptuni, and Xestospongia muta. Analysis of the results revealed that the impact of increased temperatures had no significant effect at the cellular level, but there are changes at the molecular level. Shifts in the sponges' transcriptomic profiles induced by increased temperatures, trigger processes related to signal transduction, apoptosis, and cell repair pathways. Further elevation of temperature corresponding to local extremes activated the immune response and programmed cell death. The results of the present study are based on both cellular and molecular data obtained from the in vitro cell model which highlight the minimal response of all five species to thermal stress, providing an insight into the mechanisms involved in the adaptive process. Furthermore, they suggest a resilience of these sponges to the current thermal extremes, but a combination of factors could still lead to a loss of sponges on reefs. This study forms the basis for use of in vitro sponge cell models to evaluate other environmental parameters and stressors on additional sponge species.
珊瑚礁在其原生栖息地受到自然和人为压力源引发的反复死亡事件的威胁。温度升高被认为是一个主要成因。尽管目前的研究主要集中在珊瑚上，但海绵是珊瑚礁上一种重要的底栖生物，却常常被忽视。需要一种准确且标准化的方法来确定珊瑚礁上常见海绵的环境极限和阈值。我们建立了一个体外海绵细胞模型，并评估了温度升高对佛罗里达礁区五种常见海绵——网结艾氏海绵、金黄单指海绵、多变穿贝海绵、海神瘤海星海绵和异形海绵原代细胞培养物的影响。结果分析表明，温度升高在细胞水平上没有显著影响，但在分子水平上存在变化。温度升高诱导的海绵转录组图谱的变化，触发了与信号转导、细胞凋亡和细胞修复途径相关的过程。对应于当地极端温度的进一步升温激活了免疫反应和程序性细胞死亡。本研究的结果基于从体外细胞模型获得的细胞和分子数据，这些数据突出了所有五个物种对热应激的最小反应，深入了解了适应性过程中涉及的机制。此外，这些结果表明这些海绵对当前的极端温度具有恢复力，但多种因素的组合仍可能导致珊瑚礁上海绵的损失。这项研究为使用体外海绵细胞模型评估其他环境参数和对其他海绵物种的压力源奠定了基础。
