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Cell Structure and Function Oct 2002Green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea victoria has become an important tool in molecular and cellular biology as a transcriptional... (Review)
Review
Green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea victoria has become an important tool in molecular and cellular biology as a transcriptional reporter, fusion tag, and biosensor. Most significantly, it encodes a chromophore intrinsically within its protein sequence, obviating the need for external substrates or cofactors and enabling the genetic encoding of strong fluorescence. Mutagenesis studies have generated GFP variants with new colors, improved fluorescence and other biochemical properties. In parallel, GFPs and GFP-like molecules have been cloned from other organisms, including the bioluminescent sea pansy Renilla reniformis and other non-bioluminescent Anthozoa animals. In the jellyfish and sea pansy, the GFPs are coupled to their chemoluminescence. Instead of emitting the blue light generated by aequorin and luciferase, the GFPs absorb their energy of primary emission and emit green light, which travels farther in the sea. In contrast, GFP-like proteins in reef Anthozoa are thought to play a role in photoprotection of their symbiotic zooxanthellae in shallow water; they transform absorbed UV radiation contained in sunlight into longer fluorescence wavelengths (Salih, A., Larkum, A., Cox, G., Kuhl, M., and Hoegh-Guldberg, O. 2000. Nature, 408: 850-853). In this review, I will describe both the biological and practical aspects of Anthozoan GFP-like proteins, many of which will be greatly improved in utility and commercially available before long. The ubiquity of these molecular tools makes it important to appreciate the interplay between sunlight and GFP-like proteins of Anthozoan animals, and to consider the optimal use of these unique proteins in biological studies.
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Eukaryotic Cells; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Luminescent Proteins; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Protein Engineering; Red Fluorescent Protein
PubMed: 12502888
DOI: 10.1247/csf.27.343 -
Advances in Marine Biology 2012Antipatharians, commonly known as black corals, are treasured by many cultures for medicinal purposes and to produce jewellery. Despite their economic and cultural... (Review)
Review
Antipatharians, commonly known as black corals, are treasured by many cultures for medicinal purposes and to produce jewellery. Despite their economic and cultural importance, very little is known about the basic biology and ecology of black corals because most species inhabit deeper-water environments (>50m) which are logistically challenging to study. There has been a recent increase of studies focusing on antipatharians; however, these have not yet been comprehensively reviewed. This literature review seeks to summarize the available information on the biology and ecology of antipatharians. Although black corals occur throughout all oceans and from subtidal to abyssal depths, they are particularly common in tropical and subtropical regions at depths below 50m. Antipatharians are generally found in areas with hard substrates, low-light and strong currents. Under favourable conditions, some black coral species form dense aggregations to the point of becoming ecologically dominant. Zooplankton appears to be the major component of the diet of black corals, which feed as suspension feeders and use mucus and nematocysts to capture their prey. Previously categorized as azooxanthellate corals, recent research has revealed that many antipatharians appear capable of harbouring symbionts, but unlike other corals, dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium are generally not important to the nutrition of black corals. Antipatharians reproduce through both sexual and asexual processes. In general, polyps and colonies are gonochoric, with fertilization and larval development likely occurring externally; however, to date antipatharian larvae have only been observed for a single species. Antipatharians are generally slow-growing and long-lived organisms with maximum longevities ranging from decades to millennia. Black corals are more abundant with depth, a pattern which has been hypothesized to avoid competition with obligate photosynthetic fauna. Additionally, antipatharians may compete for space by using sweeper tentacles and secondary metabolites. With the exception of a few predators such as gastropods and green sea turtles, antipatharians appear to be little impacted by predation. Like other corals, antipatharians can be habitat engineers of importance to a myriad of associated organisms including arthropods, annelids, echinoderms, mollusks, sponges and cnidarians, several of which are adapted to live exclusively on black corals. Given that most black coral species inhabit remote environments, our understanding of these organisms will depend on our ability to effectively sample and study them. Future collections, particularly in deeper waters (>50m), will be needed to determine whether antipatharian species have limited biogeographical distributions or whether this has simply been an artefact of low sampling efforts away from population centres and taxonomic uncertainties within this group. Additionally, biological and ecological studies require increased sample sizes because most information is currently derived from the examination of only a handful of specimens.
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Coral Reefs; Demography; Reproduction
PubMed: 22877611
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-394282-1.00002-8 -
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge... Nov 2005The supertree algorithm matrix representation with parsimony was used to combine existing hypotheses of coral relationships and provide the most comprehensive... (Review)
Review
The supertree algorithm matrix representation with parsimony was used to combine existing hypotheses of coral relationships and provide the most comprehensive species-level estimate of scleractinian phylogeny, comprised of 353 species (27% of extant species), 141 genera (63%) and 23 families (92%) from all seven suborders. The resulting supertree offers a guide for future studies in coral systematics by highlighting regions of concordance and conflict in existing source phylogenies. It should also prove useful in formal comparative studies of character evolution. Phylogenetic effort within Scleractinia has been taxonomically uneven, with a third of studies focussing on the Acroporidae or its most diverse genera. Sampling has also been geographically non-uniform, as tropical, reef-forming taxa have been considered twice as often as non-reef species. The supertree indicated that source trees concur on numerous aspects of coral relationships, such as the division between robust versus complex corals and the distant relationship between families in Archaeocoeniina. The supertree also supported the existence of a large, taxonomically diverse and monophyletic group of corals with many Atlantic representatives having exsert corallites. Another large, unanticipated clade consisted entirely of solitary deep-water species from three families. Important areas of ambiguity include the relationship of Astrocoeniidae to Pocilloporidae and the relative positions of several, mostly deep-water genera of Caryophylliidae. Conservative grafting of species at the base of congeneric groups with uncontroversial monophyletic status resulted in a more comprehensive, though less resolved tree of 1016 taxa.
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Evolution, Molecular; Phylogeny; Seawater; Species Specificity
PubMed: 16221328
DOI: 10.1017/S1464793105006780 -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Mar 2019
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Anthozoa; Climate Change; Coral Reefs; Environmental Restoration and Remediation; Genetic Engineering; Selective Breeding
PubMed: 30898914
DOI: 10.1126/science.363.6433.1264 -
Annual Review of Animal Biosciences Feb 2021The use of Beneficial Microorganisms for Corals (BMCs) has been proposed recently as a tool for the improvement of coral health, with knowledge in this research topic... (Review)
Review
The use of Beneficial Microorganisms for Corals (BMCs) has been proposed recently as a tool for the improvement of coral health, with knowledge in this research topic advancing rapidly. BMCs are defined as consortia of microorganisms that contribute to coral health through mechanisms that include () promoting coral nutrition and growth, () mitigating stress and impacts of toxic compounds, () deterring pathogens, and () benefiting early life-stage development. Here, we review the current proposed BMC approach and outline the studies that have proven its potential to increase coral resilience to stress. We revisit and expand the list of putative beneficial microorganisms associated with corals and their proposed mechanismsthat facilitate improved host performance. Further, we discuss the caveats and bottlenecks affecting the efficacy of BMCs and close by focusing on the next steps to facilitate application at larger scales that can improve outcomes for corals and reefs globally.
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Dinoflagellida; Microbiota; Probiotics; Symbiosis
PubMed: 33321044
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-animal-090120-115444 -
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge... May 2018Hydra is emerging as a model organism for studies of ageing in early metazoan animals, but reef corals offer an equally ancient evolutionary perspective as well as... (Review)
Review
Hydra is emerging as a model organism for studies of ageing in early metazoan animals, but reef corals offer an equally ancient evolutionary perspective as well as several advantages, not least being the hard exoskeleton which provides a rich fossil record as well as a record of growth and means of ageing of individual coral polyps. Reef corals are also widely regarded as potentially immortal at the level of the asexual lineage and are assumed not to undergo an intrinsic ageing process. However, putative molecular indicators of ageing have recently been detected in reef corals. While many of the large massive coral species attain considerable ages (>600 years) there are other much shorter-lived species where older members of some populations show catastrophic mortality, compared to juveniles, under environmental stress. Other studies suggestive of ageing include those demonstrating decreased reproduction, increased susceptibility to oxidative stress and disease, reduced regeneration potential and declining growth rate in mature colonies. This review aims to promote interest and research in reef coral ageing, both as a useful model for the early evolution of ageing and as a factor in studies of ecological impacts on reef systems in light of the enhanced effects of environmental stress on ageing in other organisms.
Topics: Aging; Animals; Anthozoa; Biological Evolution; Coral Reefs
PubMed: 29282837
DOI: 10.1111/brv.12391 -
Current Biology : CB Jan 2008
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Biodiversity; Conservation of Natural Resources; Dinoflagellida; Food Chain; Greenhouse Effect; Symbiosis
PubMed: 18177705
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.11.018 -
Molecular Ecology Mar 2007Reef corals are especially sensitive to environmental change since their survival is dependent on a delicate balance between the coral host and its algal endosymbiont....
Reef corals are especially sensitive to environmental change since their survival is dependent on a delicate balance between the coral host and its algal endosymbiont. Predicting the responses of reef ecosystems to global climate change requires a detailed understanding of the diversity of both partners in this symbiosis. The current perception of coral-inhabiting symbiont diversity at nuclear ribosomal DNA is shown in this issue of Molecular Ecology to be a significant underestimate of the wide diversity that in fact exists. Apprill & Gates (2007) reveal eight- to tenfold greater diversity than previous methods had identified. The authors underline the importance of detailed knowledge of such diversity if we are to predict, or possibly manage, the acclimatization and adaptation of reef corals to climatic change.
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Ecosystem; Eukaryota; Genetic Variation; Greenhouse Effect; Oceans and Seas; Symbiosis
PubMed: 17391400
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03254.x -
Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part... Apr 2021The regenerative capacity of cnidarians plays an essential role in the maintenance and restoration of coral reef ecosystems by allowing faster recovery from disturbances...
The regenerative capacity of cnidarians plays an essential role in the maintenance and restoration of coral reef ecosystems by allowing faster recovery from disturbances and more efficient small-scale dispersal. However, in the case of invasive species, this property may contribute to their dispersal and success in nonnative habitats. Given that four Indo-Pacific members of the coral genus Tubastraea have invaded the Atlantic, here we evaluated the ability of three of these species (Tubastraea coccinea, Tubastraea diaphana, and Tubastraea micranthus) to regenerate from fragments of undifferentiated coral tissue to fully functional polyps in response to differences in food supply and fragment size. For comparative purposes, another colonial dendrophylliid (Dendrophyllia sp.) was included in the analyses. All dendrophylliids displayed regenerative ability and high survival rates that were independent of whether or not food was supplied or fragment size. However, regeneration rates varied between species and were influenced by fragment size. Temporal expression of key genes of the regenerative process (Wnt and FGF) was profiled during whole-body regeneration of T. coccinea, suggesting a remarkable regenerative ability of T. coccinea that points to its potential use as a laboratory model for the investigation of regeneration in colonial calcified anthozoans.
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Introduced Species; Regeneration; Signal Transduction; Transcriptome
PubMed: 33503321
DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23021 -
Science Immunology Dec 2020Coral gasdermin E is cleaved by activated caspase-3 to induce pyroptosis, a form of inflammatory programmed cell death, in response to a bacterial pathogen (see the...
Coral gasdermin E is cleaved by activated caspase-3 to induce pyroptosis, a form of inflammatory programmed cell death, in response to a bacterial pathogen (see the related Research Article by Jiang .).
Topics: Animals; Anthozoa; Coral Reefs; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Pyroptosis
PubMed: 33277372
DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abf0905