Data from: Transcriptomic differences between day and night in Acropora millepora provide new insights into metabolite exchange and light-enhanced calcification in corals

The evolutionary success of reef-building corals is often attributed to their symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium, but metabolic interactions between the partners and the molecular bases of light-enhanced calcification (LEC) are not well understood. Here, the metabolic bases of the interaction between the coral Acropora millepora and its dinoflagellate symbiont were investigated by comparing gene expression levels under light and dark conditions at the whole transcriptome level. Among the 497 differentially expressed genes identified, a suite of genes involved in cholesterol transport was found to be upregulated under light conditions, confirming the significance of this compound in the coral symbiosis. Although ion transporters likely to have roles in calcification were not differentially expressed in this study, expression levels of many genes associated with skeletal organic matrix composition and organization were higher in light conditions. This implies that the rate of organic matrix synthesis is one factor limiting calcification at night. Thus, LEC during the day is likely to be a consequence of increases in both matrix synthesis and the supply of precursor molecules as a result of photosynthetic activity.GSE70488Branch tips from three adult colonies of Acropora millepora were sampled at midday and midnight. cDNA libraries were sequences with the Illumina Hiseq 2000 technic. Reads were mapped onto A. millepora's transcriptome (Bioproject PRJNA74409) with the BWA alignment tool. The count table obtained was used to assess differential expression of transcripts with EdgeR and sSeq packages. GSE70488 contains RNAseq raw files (DAY1-3 and NIGHT1-3), the count table and the differential expression results from EdgeR and sSeq.Day and Night Combined CountsCombined count data from the mapped reads for each sample. BWA parameters were -n 0.05 and -k 5Combined_Counts.txtDay_Vs_Night_EdgeRDifferential expression results obtained with EdgeRDay_vs_Night_sSeqDifferential expression results obtained with sSeq.Millepora annotation fileAcropora millepora GO annotation filesupp_file_S9.xls