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 asexual propagation: (1) the contact response of the coral fragment when contact with the substrate, followed by (2) fragment stabilisation through anchoring by the soft tissue, and (3) formation of a "lappet-like appendage" structure leading to substrate bonding of the tissue for encrustation through the onset of skeletal calcification. In developing Am-CAM, we provide new biological insights that can enable reef researchers, managers and coral restoration practitioners to begin evaluating attachment effectiveness, which is needed to optimise species-substrate compatibility and achieve effective outplanting.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23134-8 | DOI Listing |
Mar Environ Res
January 2025
South China Sea Ecological Center of Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Nansha Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, & Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Survey Technology and Application of MNR, Guangzhou, 510300, China.
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Marine Animal Ecology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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Department of Animal Ecology & Systematics, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany; Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Kāne'ohe, HI, USA.
The pollution of marine environments with plastics, particularly microplastic (MP, i.e., plastic particles <5 mm), is a major threat to marine biota, including corals.
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Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119997 Moscow, Russia.
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