Stanford marine biologists have discovered that corals activate a specific group of ancient, defensive genes when exposed to stressful environmental conditions. These stress-induced genes could serve as a kind of warning sign for coral bleaching events.
In the study, researchers monitored three coral colonies in a lagoon on Ofu Island, American Samoa, for their response to stressors like high temperatures, oxygen, and ocean acidity. On the hottest days, the researchers saw a significant change in which genes the corals were activating within their cells. See video here.
“They started using a whole set of genes that they had just not been using before,” said Steve Palumbi, a professor of marine sciences, director of Hopkins Marine Station, and an author of the paper that outlines the study, recently published in Science Advances.
Read more at Stanford University
Image: Stanford graduate student Lupita Ruiz-Jones takes a sample from the corals near Ofu Island, American Samoa. (Image credit: Zack Gold)
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