cellular responses in sea fan corals granular amoebocytes react to pathogen and climate stressors细胞反应在海扇珊瑚颗粒变形细胞对病原体和气候压力作出反应.pdfVIP

Cellular Responses in Sea Fan Corals: Granular Amoebocytes React to Pathogen and Climate Stressors 1 2 3 2 Laura D. Mydlarz *, Sally F. Holthouse , Esther C. Peters , C. Drew Harvell 1 Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, United States of America, 2 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America, 3 Tetra Tech, Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America Abstract Background: Climate warming is causing environmental change making both marine and terrestrial organisms, and even humans, more susceptible to emerging diseases. Coral reefs are among the most impacted ecosystems by climate stress, and immunity of corals, the most ancient of metazoans, is poorly known. Although coral mortality due to infectious diseases and temperature-related stress is on the rise, the immune effector mechanisms that contribute to the resistance of corals to such events remain elusive. In the Caribbean sea fan corals (Anthozoa, Alcyonacea: Gorgoniidae), the cell-based immune defenses are granular acidophilic amoebocytes, which are known to be involved in wound repair and histocompatibility. Methodology/Principal Findings: We demonstrate for the first time in corals that these cells are involved in the organismal response to pathogenic and temperature stress. In sea fans with both naturally occurring infections and experimental inoculations with the fungal pathogen Aspergillus sydowii, an inflammatory response, characterized by a massive increase of amoebocytes, was evident near infections. Melanosomes were detected in amoebocytes adjacent to protective melanin bands in infected sea fans; neither was present in uninfected fans. In naturally infected