ASSESSING ADAPTIVE ABILITIES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN RED CORAL CORALLIUM RUBRUM IN AN HIGHLY VARIABLE ENVIRONMENT USING COMMUN GARDEN AND RNA-SEQ APPROACHS.

To understand the underlying mechanisms of adaptation to thermal stress in the mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, we studied two populations: a shallow one living at the edge of the specie’s range (5 m depth), and a deeper one living in more stable thermal environment (40 m). A common garden experiment in aquaria showed different molecular phenotypes depending on the depth of origin of the individuals and of their thermal history. The transcriptome of individuals sampled in situ at 5 m or 40 m depth is currently under analysis, with more than 10 sequences for both populations. Our study will offer consistent elements to discuss the hot topic "plasticity vs local adaptation " in a context of climate change, and our results emphasize the conservation value of marginal populations