Patterns of Fluorescent Protein Expression in Scleractinian Corals [Paper]

[MondoBongo]

I ran across this paper looking for some information on coral florescence and figured i would share.

since getting in to acros a little while back i started to notice many of mine glow in very specific areas when the actinics come on. one of my frags in particular that intrigues me has a bright green florescence in the "crotches" between the branches, and a light teal florescence in a ring directly around the opening for each polyp.

i was curious why, and while it seems like there are no hard conclusions currently, there certainly is some interesting theory around it.

much of this went over my head, i am no biologist or chemist, but i still found it very interesting. hopefully some others will too.

http://faculty.baruch.cuny.edu/dgruber/Research_files/2008 bio bull.pdf

Patterns of Fluorescent Protein Expression in Scleractinian Corals

Abstract.
Biofluorescence exists in only a few classes of organisms, with Anthozoa possessing the majority of spe-cies known to express fluorescent proteins. Most species within the Anthozoan subgroup Scleractinia (reef-building corals) not only express green fluorescent proteins, they also localize the proteins in distinct anatomical patterns.We ex-amined the distribution of biofluorescence in 33 coral species, representing 8 families, from study sites on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. For 28 of these species, we report the presence of biofluorescence for the first time. The dominant fluorescent emissions observed were green (480"“520 nm) and red (580"“600 nm). Fluorescent proteins were expressed in three distinct patterns (highlighted, uniform, and complementary) among specific anatomical structures of corals across a variety of families. We report no significant overlap between the distribution of fluorescent proteins and the distribution of zooxanthellae. Analysis of the patterns of fluorescent protein distribution provides evidence that the scheme in which fluorescent proteins are distributed among the anatomical structures of corals is nonrandom. This targeted expression of fluorescent proteins in corals produces contrast and may function as a signaling mechanism to organisms with sensitivity to specific wavelengths of light.

 

[Timfish]

Intriguing research paper! Thanks for the link!

 

[ReeferBatman]

Thanks for the link! I love good scientific papers.

 

[MondoBongo]

glad you guys enjoyed.

as a bit of a follow up, i found this article on Advanced Aquarist:

Aquarium Corals: Making Corals Colorful: 'Kaede' Fluorescent Proteins
By Dana Riddle

Dana delves into the the science behind coral coloration by examining the fluorescent proteins in Clade D corals including Echinophyllia, Favia, Favites, Galaxea, Lobophyllia, Montastraea, Plesiastrea, Ricordea, Scolymia, Trachyphyllia, and others.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/201...ider&utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=clickthru