infrared69
New member
there was a question in another thread, just curious for my self. when it dies it bleaches, so the color is from the corals living tissue?
What gives a SPS coral its color?
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infrared69
New member
well this was the thered it was in b4, so my bad
DarkXerox
New member
I know that there have been papers on Montastrea cavernosa (a type of LPS) that say there are pigments that are related to GFP (green flourescence protein --something every molecular biologist has encountered, it was orginally found in Jellyfish)
Heres the abstract from one of these papers:
Discovery of Symbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria in Corals
Michael P. Lesser,1* Charles H. Mazel,2 Maxim Y. Gorbunov,3 Paul G. Falkowski3,4
Colonies of the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa exhibit a solar-stimulated orange-red fluorescence that is spectrally similar to a variety of fluorescent proteins expressed by corals. The source of this fluorescence is phycoerythrin in unicellular, nonheterocystis, symbiotic cyanobacteria within the host cells of the coral. The cyanobacteria coexist with the symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) of the coral and express the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase. The presence of this prokaryotic symbiont in a nitrogen-limited zooxanthellate coral suggests that nitrogen fixation may be an important source of this limiting element for the symbiotic association.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/305/5686/997
I have a feeling that some of the coloration also comes from accessory pigments that are much like those found in plants. I know that brown algae has fucoxanthin, which is a type of accessory pigment, and carotenoid. These most likely are what give them their coloration.
Dinoflagellates have chlorophyll C also, but I do not know if that contributes to coloration.
Heres the abstract from one of these papers:
Discovery of Symbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria in Corals
Michael P. Lesser,1* Charles H. Mazel,2 Maxim Y. Gorbunov,3 Paul G. Falkowski3,4
Colonies of the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa exhibit a solar-stimulated orange-red fluorescence that is spectrally similar to a variety of fluorescent proteins expressed by corals. The source of this fluorescence is phycoerythrin in unicellular, nonheterocystis, symbiotic cyanobacteria within the host cells of the coral. The cyanobacteria coexist with the symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) of the coral and express the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase. The presence of this prokaryotic symbiont in a nitrogen-limited zooxanthellate coral suggests that nitrogen fixation may be an important source of this limiting element for the symbiotic association.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/305/5686/997
I have a feeling that some of the coloration also comes from accessory pigments that are much like those found in plants. I know that brown algae has fucoxanthin, which is a type of accessory pigment, and carotenoid. These most likely are what give them their coloration.
Dinoflagellates have chlorophyll C also, but I do not know if that contributes to coloration.
mpcart
New member
This might be more information than you want. By the Talking Reef Podcast recently had an episode on zooxanthellae that was really good.
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614
-Mike
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614
-Mike
