An international team of Australian and Israeli coral geneticists, including scientists from 宅男导航, has found that corals, among the simplest of Earth鈥檚 creatures, have some curiously human-like attributes, thanks to shared genes.
Based at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, the team found that both corals and people had circadian rhythms that governed their body functions according to changes in day and night or season.
Professor David Miller of CoECRS and James Cook University said corals used these rhythms to dictate their feeding and breeding and to manage their symbiotic relationship with algae.
鈥淭his ability to tell the time appears hard-wired into corals,鈥� Professor Miller said.
鈥淲hat they do is automatically make a whole swag of 鈥渆mergency response鈥� proteins known as chaperones 鈥� molecules that mop up the damage that corals sustain every day when their symbiotic algae carry out photosynthesis.
鈥淚t is something they have learned to do automatically 鈥� probably because it was a matter of life or death.鈥�
The research team found that during hours of darkness corals鈥� symbiotic algae begin to rob the coral of precious oxygen in order to survive until daylight.
To prevent suffocation during this dark period, the corals respond by making more of the same enzymes that help a sprinter鈥檚 muscles deal with a lack of oxygen.
Study co-author Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of CoECRS and 宅男导航 said the study was a fresh model of the complexity that takes place in symbiosis.
鈥淟ike any marriage, symbiosis is demanding and one partner often has to make big changes to accommodate the other,鈥� Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said.
鈥淲e think this new insight will help further our understanding of how other symbiotic partnerships work, in clams for example.鈥�
Experts in coral biology, Oren Levy of Bar-Ilan University and Paulina Kaniewska of 宅男导航, conducted the majority of the project鈥檚 laboratory and field work, and developed the model coral for molecular analysis, Acropora millepora.
The study involved taking samples every four hours under conditions of normal light, dark light, and total darkness to determine the corals鈥� circadian rhythms.
More information:
Professor Dave Miller, CoECRS and JCU, +61 (0)7 4781 4473 or 0419 671 768
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, CoECRS and University of Queensland, +61 (07) 3346 7417 or 0401 106 604
Jenny Lappin, CoECRS, +61 (0)7 4781 4222 or +61 417 741 638
Jim O鈥橞rien, James Cook University Media Office, +61 (0)7 4781 4822 or 0418 892449
Jan King, 宅男导航 Communications Manager, +61 (0)7 3365 1120
http://www.coralcoe.org.au/
CoECRS are proud sponsors of the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, Cairns: 9-13 July 2012.
