Coral research is being ushered into the genomic era. To fully capitalize on the potential discoveries from this genomic revolution, the rapidly increasing number of high-quality genomes requires effective pairing with rigorous taxonomic characterizations of specimens and the contextualization of their ecological relevance. However, to date there is no formal framework that genomicists, taxonomists, and coral scientists can collectively use to systematically acquire and link these data. Spurred by the recently announced “Coral symbiosis sensitivity to environmental change hub” under the “Aquatic Symbiosis Genomics Project”, a collaboration between the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation to generate gold-standard genome sequences for coral animal hosts and their associated Symbiodiniaceae microalgae (among the sequencing of many other symbiotic aquatic species), we outline consensus guidelines to reconcile different types of data. The metaorganism nature of the coral holobiont provides a particular challenge in this context and is a key factor to consider for developing a framework to consolidate genomic, taxonomic, and ecological (meta)data. Ideally, genomic data should be accompanied by taxonomic references, i.e. skeletal vouchers as formal morphological references for corals and strain specimens in the case of microalgal and bacterial symbionts (cultured isolates). However, exhaustive taxonomic characterization of all coral holobiont member species is currently not feasible simply because we do not have a comprehensive understanding of all the organisms that constitute the coral holobiont. Nevertheless, guidelines on minimal, recommended, and ideal-case descriptions for the major coral holobiont constituents (coral animal, Symbiodiniaceae microalgae, prokaryotes) will undoubtedly help in future referencing and will facilitate comparative studies. We hope that the guidelines outlined here, which we will adhere to as part of the Aquatic Symbiosis Genomics Project sub-hub focused on coral symbioses, will be useful to a broader community and their implementation will facilitate cross- and meta-data comparisons and analyses.

中文翻译：

---

推进珊瑚全生物基因组和标本凭证沉积的共识指南

珊瑚研究正在进入基因组时代。为了充分利用这场基因组革命的潜在发现，快速增加的高质量基因组数量需要与标本的严格分类学特征及其生态相关性的背景化进行有效配对。然而，迄今为止，还没有正式的框架可供基因组学家、分类学家和珊瑚科学家共同使用来系统地获取和链接这些数据。在最近宣布的“水生共生基因组学项目”下的“珊瑚共生对环境变化的敏感性中心”的刺激下，Wellcome Sanger 研究所与 Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation 为珊瑚动物宿主及其相关的共生科微藻（在许多其他共生水生物种的测序中）生成黄金标准基因组序列，我们概述了协调不同类型数据的共识指南。在这种情况下，珊瑚全生物的元有机体性质提供了一个特殊的挑战，并且是开发整合基因组、分类学和生态（元）数据的框架时需要考虑的关键因素。理想情况下，基因组数据应附有分类学参考，即在微藻和细菌共生体（培养分离株）的情况下，骨骼凭证作为珊瑚和菌株标本的正式形态参考。然而，对所有珊瑚全生物成员物种进行详尽的分类学表征目前是不可行的，因为我们没有对构成珊瑚全生物的所有生物体有全面的了解。尽管如此，关于主要珊瑚全生物成分（珊瑚动物、共生科微藻、原核生物）的最小、推荐和理想情况描述的指南无疑将有助于未来的参考，并将促进比较研究。我们希望这里概述的指南（我们将作为专注于珊瑚共生的水生共生基因组学项目子中心的一部分）对更广泛的社区有用，并且它们的实施将促进交叉和元数据的比较和分析. 尽管如此，关于主要珊瑚全生物成分（珊瑚动物、共生科微藻、原核生物）的最小、推荐和理想情况描述的指南无疑将有助于未来的参考，并将促进比较研究。我们希望此处概述的指南（我们将作为专注于珊瑚共生的水生共生基因组学项目子中心的一部分）对更广泛的社区有用，并且它们的实施将促进交叉和元数据比较和分析. 尽管如此，关于主要珊瑚全生物成分（珊瑚动物、共生科微藻、原核生物）的最小、推荐和理想情况描述的指南无疑将有助于未来的参考，并将促进比较研究。我们希望此处概述的指南（我们将作为专注于珊瑚共生的水生共生基因组学项目子中心的一部分）对更广泛的社区有用，并且它们的实施将促进交叉和元数据比较和分析.