The biology of coral metamorphosis: Molecular responses of larvae to inducers of settlement and metamorphosis

摘要

Likemanyothercnidarians,coralsundergometamorphosisfromamotileplanulalarvatoasedentarypolyp.InsomeseaanemonessuchasemNematostella/emthisprocessisasmoothtransitionrequiringnoextrinsicstimuli,butinmanycoralsitismorecomplexandiscue-driven.Tobetterunderstandthemoleculareventsunderlyingcoralmetamorphosis,competentlarvaeweretreatedwitheitheranaturalinducerofsettlement(crustosecorallinealgaechips/extract)orLWamide,whichbypassesthesettlementphaseanddriveslarvaedirectlyintometamorphosis.Microarraysfeaturing#xA0;8000emAcropora/emunigeneswereusedtofollowgeneexpressionchangesduringthe12#xA0;hperiodafterthesetreatments,andtheexpressionpatternsofspecificgenes,selectedonthebasisofthearrayexperiments,wereinvestigatedbyinsituhybridization.Threepatternsofexpressionwerecommonmdash;anaboralpatternrestrictedtothesearching/settlementphase,asecondphaseofaboralexpressioncorrespondingtothebeginningofthedevelopmentofthecalicoblasticectodermandcontinuingaftermetamorphosis,andalaterorally-restrictedpattern./p/div