Phenotypic plasticity for improved light harvesting, in tandem with methylome repatterning in reef-building corals.

ABSTRACT: Acclimatization through phenotypic plasticity represents a more rapid response to environmental change than adaptation and is vital to optimize organisms' performance in different conditions. Generally, animals are less phenotypically plastic than plants, but reef-building corals exhibit plant-like properties. They are light dependent with a sessile and modular construction that facilitates rapid morphological changes within their lifetime. We induced phenotypic changes by altering light exposure in a reciprocal transplant experiment and found that coral plasticity is a colony trait emerging from comprehensive morphological and physiological changes within the colony. Plasticity in skeletal features optimized coral light harvesting and utilization and paralleled significant methylome and t

SUBMITTER: Gomez-Campo K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10922902 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature