Using flow cytometric analysis of fluorescence, we measured the genome sizes of 18 cultured ‘‘freeliving’’ species and 29 Symbiodinium spp. isolates cultured from stony corals, gorgonians, anemones, jellyfish, and giant clams. Genome size directly correlated with cell size, as documented previously for most eukaryotic cell lines. Among the smallest of dinoflagellates, Symbiodinium spp. (6–15mm)...

This paper is concerned with the description of exceptional simple Lie algebras as octonionic analogues of the classical matrix Lie algebras. We review the Tits-Freudenthal construction of the magic square, which includes the exceptional Lie algebras as the octonionic case of a construction in terms of a Jordan algebra of hermitian 3× 3 matrices (Tits) or various plane and other geometries (Fre...

BACKGROUND Coral diseases are emerging as a serious threat to coral reefs worldwide. Of nine coral infectious diseases, whose pathogens have been characterized, six are caused by agents from the family Vibrionacae, raising questions as to their origin and role in coral disease aetiology. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Here we report on a Vibrio zinc-metalloprotease causing rapid photoinactiva...

24 Many reef-building corals acquire their algal symbionts (Symbiodinium sp.) from the 25 local environment upon recruitment. This horizontal transmission strategy where hosts 26 pair with locally available symbionts could serve to increase coral fitness across diverse 27 environments, as long as the host maintains high promiscuity and symbionts adapt 28 locally. Here, we tested this hypothesis...

24 Many reef-building corals acquire their algal symbionts (Symbiodinium sp.) from the 25 local environment upon recruitment. This horizontal transmission strategy where hosts 26 pair with locally available symbionts could serve to increase coral fitness across diverse 27 environments, as long as the host maintains high promiscuity and symbionts adapt 28 locally. Here, we tested this hypothesis...

The impacts of warming seas on the frequency and severity of bleaching events are well documented, but the potential for different Symbiodinium types to enhance the physiological tolerance of reef corals is not well understood. Here we compare the functionality and physiological properties of juvenile corals when experimentally infected with one of two homologous Symbiodinium types and exposed ...

The identification of genetic diversity in dinoflagellates belonging to the genus Symbiodinium has been the subject of numerous studies over the last decade. During this time, a variety of molecules have been utilized. Some of these loci offer a "coarse" (i.e., 18S-rDNA) view while others provide a much "finer" (i.e., DNA fingerprinting) portrait of diversity within Symbiodinium. The use of seq...

Biological clocks are self-sustained endogenous timers that enable organisms (from cyanobacteria to humans) to anticipate daily environmental rhythms, and adjust their physiology and behaviour accordingly. Symbiotic corals play a central role in the creation of biologically rich ecosystems based on mutualistic symbioses between the invertebrate coral and dinoflagellate protists from the genus S...

The physiological response to individual and combined stressors of elevated temperature and pCO2 were measured over a 24-day period in four Pacific corals and their respective symbionts (Acropora millepora/Symbiodinium C21a, Pocillopora damicornis/Symbiodinium C1c-d-t, Montipora monasteriata/Symbiodinium C15, and Turbinaria reniformis/Symbiodinium trenchii). Multivariate analyses indicated that...

With the increase in sea surface temperature (SST), scleractinian corals are exposed to bleaching threats but may possess certain flexibilities in terms of their associations with symbiotic algae. Previous studies have shown a close symbiosis between coral the and Symbiodinium; however, the spatial variation of the symbiosis and the attribution underlying are not well understood. In the present...