TY - JOUR
T1 - The chemical armament of reef-building corals
T2 - Inter- and intra-specific variation and the identification of an unusual actinoporin in Stylophora pistilata
AU - Ben-Ari, Hanit
AU - Paz, Moran
AU - Sher, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Corals, like other cnidarians, are venomous animals that rely on stinging cells (nematocytes) and their toxins to catch prey and defend themselves against predators. However, little is known about the chemical arsenal employed by stony corals, despite their ecological importance. Here, we show large differences in the density of nematocysts and whole-body hemolytic activity between different species of reef-building corals. In the branched coral Stylophora pistillata, the tips of the branches exhibited a greater hemolytic activity than the bases. Hemolytic activity and nematocyst density were significantly lower in Stylophora that were maintained for close to a year in captivity compared to corals collected from the wild. A cysteine-containing actinoporin was identified in Stylophora following partial purification and tandem mass spectrometry. This toxin, named Δ-Pocilopotoxin-Spi1 (Δ-PCTX-Spi1) is the first hemolytic toxin to be partially isolated and characterized in true reef-building corals. Loss of hemolytic activity during chromatography suggests that this actinoporin is only one of potentially several hemolytic molecules. These results suggest that the capacity to employ offensive and defensive chemicals by corals is a dynamic trait within and between coral species, and provide a first step towards identifying the molecular components of the coral chemical armament.
AB - Corals, like other cnidarians, are venomous animals that rely on stinging cells (nematocytes) and their toxins to catch prey and defend themselves against predators. However, little is known about the chemical arsenal employed by stony corals, despite their ecological importance. Here, we show large differences in the density of nematocysts and whole-body hemolytic activity between different species of reef-building corals. In the branched coral Stylophora pistillata, the tips of the branches exhibited a greater hemolytic activity than the bases. Hemolytic activity and nematocyst density were significantly lower in Stylophora that were maintained for close to a year in captivity compared to corals collected from the wild. A cysteine-containing actinoporin was identified in Stylophora following partial purification and tandem mass spectrometry. This toxin, named Δ-Pocilopotoxin-Spi1 (Δ-PCTX-Spi1) is the first hemolytic toxin to be partially isolated and characterized in true reef-building corals. Loss of hemolytic activity during chromatography suggests that this actinoporin is only one of potentially several hemolytic molecules. These results suggest that the capacity to employ offensive and defensive chemicals by corals is a dynamic trait within and between coral species, and provide a first step towards identifying the molecular components of the coral chemical armament.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040447229&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-017-18355-1
DO - 10.1038/s41598-017-18355-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 29321526
AN - SCOPUS:85040447229
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 8
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 251
ER -