Gene expression patterns during the early stages of chemically induced larval metamorphosis and settlement of the coral Acropora millepora.

ABSTRACT: The morphogenetic transition of motile coral larvae into sessile primary polyps is triggered and genetically programmed upon exposure to environmental biomaterials, such as crustose coralline algae (CCA) and bacterial biofilms. Although the specific chemical cues that trigger coral larval morphogenesis are poorly understood there is much more information available on the genes that play a role in this early life phase. Putative chemical cues from natural biomaterials yielded defined chemical samples that triggered different morphogenetic outcomes: an extract derived from a CCA-associated Pseudoalteromonas bacterium that induced metamorphosis, characterized by non-attached metamorphosed juveniles; and two fractions of the CCA Hydrolithon onkodes (Heydrich) that induced settlement, character

SUBMITTER: Siboni N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3954620 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature