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Assessing Coral Health Using Molecular Biomarkers Craig A. Downs1,2, Erich Mueller3, Susan
Phillips4, John Fauth5 and Cheryl M. Woodley1 1NOAA NOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and
Biomolecular Research, Marine
Biotechnology Program, Charleston, SC 29412; 2Envirion Biotechnologies, Inc., McLean, VA 22101; 3Center
for Tropical Research,
Mote Marine Laboratory, Summerland Key, FL 33042; 4Department
of Biological Sciences, Brevard Community College, Palm Bay, FL
32909; 5Department of Biology, College/University of
Charleston, Charleston, SC 29422 Coral
bleaching is widely believed to be responsible for significant coral mortality
world-wide, particularly during 1997-1998.
Heat stress is thought to be an essential component for the induction of
coral bleaching. We have designed a
Molecular Biomarker System (MBS) that assays specific physiological parameters
of the coral cell indicative of a non-stressed or stressed condition. The
parameters measured with the MBS represents specific cellular physiological
functions that are indicative of (1) whether the structural integrity of the cell
is challenged; (2) whether there is a response to oxidative stress; (3) whether
metabolic processes (photosynthetic and oxidative phosphorylation) are or were
subject to insult; and (4) provides evidence for identifying the stressor (i.e., heat, light, or both). We conducted laboratory experiments with Montastraea faveolata challenged with
heat stress in the light and in the dark
to demonstrate the diagnostic potential of this molecular biomarker
system. The results provide evidence
that MBS responds differently in corals grown under optimal growth conditions,
experiencing heat-stress in the dark, and experiencing heat-stress under
physiologically relevant photosynthetic active radiation (PAR). We also demonstrated that MBS distinguishes
certain physiological parameters unique to each of the two symbiotic organisms.
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