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Manuel Aranda

Professor, Marine Science

Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division 
Center membership :
Red Sea Research Center

manuel.aranda@kaust.edu.sa


Affiliations

Education Profile

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, 2009
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, 2007
  • Ph.D., Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, 2006
  • Diploma, Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, 2001

Research Interests

Prof. Aranda is an evolutionary biologist with a strong background in functional genetics and coral reef genomics. His group studies the molecular underpinnings of the cnidarian-algal symbiosis and its environmental stress-related breakdown using functional genomics and genetics approaches. Furthermore, they are interested in how corals use the ability to modify their genomes through epigenetic mechanisms in order to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Selected Publications

  • E. Howells, D. Abrego, Y. J. Liew, J.A. Burt, E. Meyer, M. Aranda (2021). "Enhancing the heat tolerance of reef-building corals to future warming". Science Advances, 2021 Aug 20;7(34):eabg6070. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg6070

  • A. Nand, Y. Zhan, O.R. Salazar, M. Aranda, C.R. Voolstra, J. Dekker (2021). "Chromosome-scale assembly of the coral endosymbiont Symbiodinium microadriaticum genome provides insight into the unique biology of dinoflagellate chromosomes". Nature Genetics 53, 618–629 (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00841-y(Cover Story!)

  • Y.J. Liew, E. Howells, X. Wang, C.T. Michell, J. Burt, Y. Idaghdour, M. Aranda (2020). "Intergenerational epigenetic inheritance in reef-building corals". Nature Climate Change (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0687-2

  • Y. Li, Y.J. Liew, G. Cui, M.J. Cziesielski, N. Zahran, C.T. Michell, C.R. Voolstra, M. Aranda (2018). "DNA methylation regulates transcriptional homeostasis of algal endosymbiosis in the coral model Aiptasia". Science Advances Vol. 4, no. 8, eaat2142 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2142

  • Y. J. Liew, D. Zoccola, Y. Li, E. Tambutté, A.A. Venn, C. T. Michell, G. Cui, E.S. Deutekom, J.A. Kaandorp, C.R. Voolstra, S. Fôret, D. Allemand, S. Tambutté, M. Aranda (2018). "Epigenome-associated phenotypic acclimatization to ocean acidification in a reef-building coral". Science Advances Vol. 4, no. 6, eaar8028, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar8028