Genetic basis of stony coral biomineralization: History, trends and future prospects

• Published in: Journal of structural biology Vol. 213; no. 4; p. 107782
• Main Authors: Drake, Jeana L., Varsano, Neta, Mass, Tali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.12.2021
• Subjects: Animals; Anthozoa - classification; Anthozoa - genetics; Anthozoa - growth & development; Aragonite; Biomineralization - genetics; Calcification, Physiologic - genetics; Calcium Carbonate - metabolism; Epigenomics - methods; Epigenomics - trends; Forecasting; Gene Editing - methods; Gene Editing - trends; Genomic; Highly acidic proteins; Larva - genetics; Larva - growth & development; Larva - metabolism; Metamorphosis, Biological - genetics; Phylogeny; Proteomic; Skeletal organic matrix; Species Specificity; Aragonite; Highly acidic proteins; Skeletal organic matrix; Genomic; Proteomic
• ISSN: 1047-8477; 1095-8657; 1095-8657
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2021.107782

•The genes encoding proteins found in the stony coral skeletal organic matrix have been revealed in recent years; however, outstanding questions about the biomineralization mechanism remain.•Genetic tools are primed to be combined with physical and chemical analyses to reveal the full suite of genetic underpinnings of stony coral biomineralization.•There are several ‘low hanging’ fruits that can be achieved by the end of the decade. Despite their simple body plan, stony corals (order Scleractinia, phylum Cnidaria) can produce massive and complex exoskeletal structures in shallow, tropical and subtropical regions of Earth’s oceans. The species-specific macromorphologies of their aragonite skeletons suggest a highly coordinated biomineralization process that is rooted in their genomes, and which has persisted across major climatic shifts over the past 400 + million years. The mechanisms by which stony corals produce their skeletons has been the subject of interest for at least the last 160 years, and the pace of understanding the process has increased dramatically in the past decade since the sequencing of the first coral genome in 2011. In this review, we detail what is known to date about the genetic basis of the stony coral biomineralization process, with a focus on advances in the last several years as well as ways that physical and chemical tools can be combined with genetics, and then propose next steps forward for the coming decade.