Talk title: Investigating the Role of Salinity in the Thermotolerance of Corals

Presenter: Hagen M. Gegner

Date: Wednesday, December 05, 2018
Time: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Location: Auditorium level 0, between buildings 2 and 3

Abstract: Some of the most thermotolerant corals live also in particularly saline habitats, such as the Red Sea, but possible effects of high salinity on thermotolerance in corals are anecdotal. Emerging from this observation is the intriguing hypothesis that high salinity conditions may assist thermotolerance in corals. In my talk, I will show the work that has been done during my Ph.D. using a combination of physiological assessments and targeted metabolomics, systematically using Aiptasia as a coral model and corals from the Red Sea to understand better the influence of high salinity and heat on the cnidarian-algal endosymbiosis.

Talk title: First assessment of viral diversity across corals from the central Red Sea suggests abundant association with Baculoviridae

Presenter: Jin Ye

Date: Wednesday, December 05, 2018
Time: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Location: Auditorium level 0, between buildings 2 and 3

Abstract: In this study, we characterized coral-associated viral community composition using a large metagenomic and metatransciptomic dataset collected from 14 different coral species in the central Red Sea. We obtained about 1.6 billion sequences that show that coral species significantly differ from each other, although the most abundant viral families were consistently present. Notably, we found pervasive abundance of Baculoviridae in metagenomes.