The Host Coral Bleaching Response Viewed Through the Lens of Multi‐Omics

We review recent multi-omics analyses of the coral heat stress response to explore the generality of the Oxidative Theory of Coral Bleaching (OTCB), which posits that algal symbiont release is the final act of defense by the coral host to survive alga-derived oxidative stress. The OTCB is particularly relevant given that ocean warming, which is accelerating under climate change, has proven devastating for corals, leading to the bleaching phenotype and widespread reef loss. Multi-omics results, in combination with other data, such as genome-wide association studies, support the idea that coral bleaching is a multifactorial response that reflects a wide array of causes and effects and is population-specific under most conditions, with coral ploidy and genotype being critical to bleaching sensitivity. This perspective leverages the location, algal and prokaryotic microbiome, and host genotype-specific aspects of coral resilience to promote a new "personal genomics" approach to coral conservation, analogous to that used in human health.