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"Chimeras are defined as genetically mixed entities resulting from the fusion of two or more congeners. Compared to genetically homogeneous colonies (non-chimeras), ecological and evolutionary advantages linked to chimerism position coral chimeras as a potential evolutionary rescue tool.

To test this hypothesis, we developed field monitoring and multi-omics approaches to compare the responses of chimeric and non-chimeric colonies acclimatised for one year at 10 m depth or exposed to a stressful environmental change.

We have shown that chimerism in Stylophora pistillata is associated with higher survival, loss of transcriptomic plasticity but they constitutively express stress response genes at a higher level. This pre-induction thus prepares the colony to face environmental stresses at any time, which would explain the greater robustness of chimeric colonies."