The skeleton of the staghorn coral Acropora millepora: molecular and structural characterization.

ABSTRACT: The scleractinian coral Acropora millepora is one of the most studied species from the Great Barrier Reef. This species has been used to understand evolutionary, immune and developmental processes in cnidarians. It has also been subject of several ecological studies in order to elucidate reef responses to environmental changes such as temperature rise and ocean acidification (OA). In these contexts, several nucleic acid resources were made available. When combined to a recent proteomic analysis of the coral skeletal organic matrix (SOM), they enabled the identification of several skeletal matrix proteins, making A. millepora into an emerging model for biomineralization studies. Here we describe the skeletal microstructure of A. millepora skeleton, together with a functional and biochemical

SUBMITTER: Ramos-Silva P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4043741 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature