Cellular adaptations leading to coral fragment attachment on artificial substrates in Acropora millepora (Am-CAM).

ABSTRACT: Reproductive propagation by asexual fragmentation in the reef-building coral Acropora millepora depends on (1) successful attachment to the reef substrate through modification of soft tissues and (2) a permanent bond with skeletal encrustation. Despite decades of research examining asexual propagation in corals, the initial response, cellular reorganisation, and development leading to fragment substrate attachment via a newly formed skeleton has not been documented in its entirety. Here, we establish the first "coral attachment model" for this species ("Am-CAM") by developing novel methods that allow correlation of fluorescence and electron microscopy image data with in vivo microscopic time-lapse imagery. This multi-scale imaging approach identified three distinct phases involved in asexu

SUBMITTER: Lewis BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9626494 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature