A Rutgers University study has been able to identify how stony coral develops and builds its strong inner skeletal structures.
The study, which was led by Dr. Paul Falkowski and Manjula Mummadisetti at Rutgers University in New Jersey, was published in a February edition of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
"The skeleton contains tens of proteins, all of which are encoded in the animal genome and secreted during the biomineralization process. While recent advances are revealing the functions and evolutionary history of some of these proteins, how they are spatially arranged in the skeleton is unknown," the Journal of the Royal Society Interface said.
Corals are colonies of small, genetically identical animals, called polyps, which use biomineralization -- the process of combining fibers of living matter with mineral calcium carbonate -- to develop skeletal-like characteristics.
As part of the research, scientists set out to "identify the spatial arrangement of the different proteins embedded in the coral skeleton and how the proteins interact with each other," Current Science Daily reported.
"Chemical cross-linking combined with mass spectrometry sequencing is a well-established approach to understanding the spatial organization of proteins. This approach does not suffer from some of the problems encountered when using immunological methods and can be used to study spatially close skeletal proteins," according to the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Researchers mapped the protein-protein interactions through the use of the chemical cross-linking to develop the spatial network, which further helped them understand how the coral was developing rock-hard skeleton, Current Science Daily said. The nodes and lines identified through the mapping represented the biochemical interactions in formation of the skeleton.
"Then calcium-binding proteins, including some CARPs (coral acid-rich proteins) and carbonic anhydrase, are recruited. Magnesium-rich calcium carbonate is nucleated, and four calcium-binding proteins are recruited, followed by the formation of needle-like aragonite crystals. Aragonite is a crystalline form of calcium carbonate," Current Science Daily reported.
Stony coral forms large reefs, especially in subtropical and tropical areas, and acts as an important geological and technological protection to the shoreline from erosion caused by naturally occurring storms and erosion. Stony coral also provides a habitat for particular types of fish.
According to Rutgers Today, Falkowski said that the findings further suggest that stony coral will be able to withstand climate change based on its resilience and rock-hard skeletons.