Cawa Tran, Gabriel R Rosenfield, Phillip A Cleves, Cory J Krediet, Maitri R Paul, Sophie Clowez, Arthur R Grossman, John R Pringle
Coral growth depends on the partnership between the animal hosts and their intracellular, photosynthetic dinoflagellate symbionts. In this study, we used the sea anemone Aiptasia , a laboratory model for coral biology, to investigate the poorly understood mechanisms that mediate symbiosis establishment and maintenance. We found that initial colonization of both adult polyps and larvae by a compatible algal strain was more effective when the algae were able to photosynthesize and that the long-term maintenance of the symbiosis also depended on photosynthesis...
May 6, 2024: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences