If you have ever seen the movie "Finding Nemo," then you will know about the famous and colorful coral reefs that line very small sections of the ocean floor. The coral reefs are home to about 25% of marine life world wide. But why are these coral reefs so famous and colorful?
In a recent study conducted by scientists at the University of Southampton, the genetics of the colorful coral reefs have been studied. The study revels that the individual sections of living coral use one single gene to control pigment production to produce their colors. However, the corals do not just use one copy of the gene, the coral instead uses multiple copies of the same gene. The pigments act as sunscreen for the living organism and will create more or less depending on how much sun is on the reef. Another factor that affects the reefs are the many living organisms surrounding the coral. Most algae protect the coral from the sun through a symbiotic relationship.This article was very interesting because I have always been fascinated with marine life and the coral reefs. The article does touch on why the coral reefs are dying out which I also thought was very interesting since part of it was related with the pigmentation.
found at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150129094216.htm
I also have also found corals to be extremely interesting and now discovering that the wide array of colors seen in corals is due to one copy of the same gene has changed the way I view coral reefs. The ability for the pigments to act as a sunscreen is also interesting in that it shows these colors are not only visually attractive, but essential in the survival of coral reefs.
ReplyDeleteI too found it very interesting. It is absolutely amazing the one gene in the DNA has such power over the species and also for the ability for the coral to survive. I also agree that the coral reefs are a very attractive aspect of the worlds oceans.
DeleteThere is a part of B&E lab that talks about coral and as a TA for that lab i learn more and more about them every semester, so to see an blog post on coral and learning even more about it awesome. I did not know they used multiple copies of the same gene. And the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae is very interesting as well.
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