Mother Colony Research Articles

Automated sensing and splitting of stem cell colonies on microraft arrays.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are widely used for disease modeling, tissue engineering, and clinical applications. Although the development of new disease-relevant or customized hiPSC lines is of high importance, current automated hiPSC isolation technologies rely largely on the fluorescent labeling of cells, thus limiting the cell line development from many applications. The objective of this research was to develop a platform for high-throughput hiPSC cytometry and splitting that utilized a label-free cell sensing approach. An image analysis pipeline utilizing background subtraction and standard deviation projections was implemented to detect hiPSC colonies from bright-field microscopy data. The pipeline was incorporated into an automated microscopy system coupling quad microraft cell-isolation arrays, computer-based vision, and algorithms for smart decision making and cell sorting. The pipeline exhibited a hiPSC detection specificity of 98% and a sensitivity of 88%, allowing for the successful tracking of growth for hundreds of microcolonies over 7 days. The automated platform split 170 mother colonies from a microarray within 80 min, and the harvested daughter biopsies were expanded into viable hiPSC colonies suitable for downstream assays, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or continued culture. Transmitted light microscopy offers an alternative, label-free modality for isolating hiPSCs, yet its low contrast and specificity for adherent cells remain a challenge for automation. This novel approach to label-free sensing and microcolony subsampling with the preservation of the mother colony holds the potential for hiPSC colony screening based on a wide range of properties including those measurable only by a cell destructive assay.

Maternal Inheritance in Hybrids of Three Honey Bee Subspecies

Abstract The identification of honey bee (Apis mellifera) subspecies is often based on the measurements of workers’ fore-wings. The interpretation of the measurements can be difficult because the phenotype of workers is affected by both genetic and environmental factors. Moreover, it is not clear how the phenotype is affected by maternal inheritance. We have used the methodology of geometric morphometrics to verify if hybrids of honey bee subspecies and their backcrosses are more similar to either the father or mother colony. The comparison was based on fore-wing venation of three honey bee subspecies: A. m. carnica, A. m. caucasica, A. m. mellifera. First generation hybrids and backcrosses of those subspecies were obtained through instrumental insemination. Workers of the hybrids were compared with their parental colonies. The shape of wing venation was more similar to the maternal than to parental colony. This phenomenon was particularly visible in first generation of hybrids but it was also present in backcrosses. There were also symptoms of genetic dominance of some subspecies but this effect interacted with maternal inheritance and was difficult to interpret.

First study of asexual planulae in the coral Pocillopora damicornis type β SSH05c from the southwestern Indian Ocean

With the recent taxonomic revision of the scleractinian Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus 1758), now identified as a species complex, former reproduction studies must be reconsidered. In this context, this study focuses on P. damicornis type β, more precisely SSH05c sensu Gelin et al. (Mol Phylogenet Evol 109:430–446, 2017b), found exclusively in the Indian Ocean. We aimed to determine whether P. damicornis type β SSH05c is able to produce asexually derived larvae. For this, colonies were collected in Reunion Island and kept in aquaria. Two mother colonies released larvae that were genotyped using 13 microsatellite loci along with the mother colony to compare their multi-locus genotypes and identify clones. All planulae (9 and 84, respectively) presented a genotype identical to their mother colony. This study provides the first evidence of asexual larval production in P. damicornis type β SSH05c from the southwestern Indian Ocean. However, given the limited data set, more studies are needed to better characterize the role and frequency of this reproductive strategy for this lineage.

First description of polyp bailout in cold-water octocorals under aquaria maintenance

Cnidarians, characterized by high levels of plasticity, exhibit remarkable mechanisms to withstand or escape unfavourable conditions including reverse development which describes processes of transformation of adult stages into early developmental stages with higher mobility. Polyp bailout is a stress-escape response common among scleractinian species, consisting of massive detachment of live polyps and subsequent death of the mother colony. Here, we describe two cases of polyp bailout in the cold-water octocoral species Acanthogorgia armata and Acanella arbuscula. During maintenance in aquaria, specimens of both species presented coenosarc withdrawal and loss of sclerites, followed by detachment of intact polyps. This is a strong indication of reverse development which can be a very important strategy under stress conditions and has not been reported before in cold-water octocorals.

Magnesium-Rich Nanometric Layer in the Skeleton of Pocillopora damicornis With Possible Involvement in Fibrous Aragonite Deposition

The complex structures and morphologies of coral skeletons make it difficult to study the construction of individual skeleton components. This is especially true regarding micro-structures deposited during different stages of skeletogenesis. As such structures serve as the basis for subsequent skeleton development, they are often obscured by additional skeletal deposition and growth. Recently we described a new model system, coral-on-a-chip, for studying coral biology and skeletogenesis. This system utilizes micropropagates of the Indo-Pacific coral Pocillopora damicornis maintained within a microfluidic environment, allowing us to follow early stages of skeletogenesis over time and under controlled environmental conditions. Our findings reveal that, following settlement onto glass slides, the micropropagates initially form a thin, almost two dimensional skeleton, which subsequently develops into a robust three-dimensional form with features resembling those of the mother colony. Studying the early stages of skeleton accretion in our micropropagates using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) revealed a magnesium-rich layer deposited directly on the glass surface. This layer, which has a typical Mg/Ca ratio of 1.43±0.78, forms a dense lattice with a typical pore size of 100 nm. Microscopic observations indicate that this lattice serves as the basis for subsequent growth of fibrous aragonite. Examination of the underside of a skeleton from a small P. damicornis colony growing on a glass surface revealed a similar high-magnesium lattice at the interface between the glass and aragonitic skeleton in association with fibrous aragonite deposition. These observations suggest a role for this magnesium-rich lattice in the deposition of the fibrous aragonite forming the bulk of the coral skeleton.

Transmission of fungal partners to incipient Cecropia-tree ant colonies.

Ascomycete fungi in the nests of ants inhabiting plants (= myrmecophytes) are very often cultivated by the ants in small patches and used as food source. Where these fungi come from is not known yet. Two scenarios of fungus recruitment are possible: (1) random infection through spores or hyphal fragments from the environment, or (2) transmission from mother to daughter colonies by the foundress queen. It is also not known at which stage of the colony life cycle fungiculture is initiated, and whether the- symbiont fungi serve as food for the ant queen. To clarify these questions, we investigated four Azteca ant species inhabiting three different Cecropia species (C. insignis, C. obtusifolia, and C. peltata). We analysed an rRNA gene fragment from 52 fungal patches produced by founding queens and compared them with those from established Azteca colonies (n = 54). The infrabuccal pockets of winged queens were dissected to investigate whether young queens carry fungi from their mother colony. Additionally, 15N labelling experiments were done to verify whether the queen feeds on the patches until she is nourished by her first worker offspring. We infer from the results that the fungi cultivated in hollow plant structures are transferred from the parental colony of the young queen. First, fungal genotypes/OTU diversity was not significantly different between foundress queen patches and established colonies, and second, hyphal parts were discovered in the infrabuccal pockets of female alates. We could show that fungiculture already starts before queens lay their eggs, and that the queens do not feed on fungal patch material but feed it to the larvae. Our findings suggest that fungiculture may be crucial for successful colony founding of arboreal ants in the tropics.

First Report of Nothophoma quercina Causing Trunk Canker on Crabapple (Malus micromalus) in China

HomePlant DiseaseVol. 102, No. 7First Report of Nothophoma quercina Causing Trunk Canker on Crabapple (Malus micromalus) in China PreviousNext DISEASE NOTES OPENOpen Access licenseFirst Report of Nothophoma quercina Causing Trunk Canker on Crabapple (Malus micromalus) in ChinaM. Liu, W. Zhang, I. S. Manawasinghe, Y. Zhou, Q. K. Xing, X. H. Li, J. Y. Yan, and S. WangM. Liu†Corresponding author: M. Liu; E-mail: E-mail Address: liumeidmw@163.comhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-6785-8090Search for more papers by this author, W. ZhangSearch for more papers by this author, I. S. ManawasingheSearch for more papers by this author, Y. ZhouSearch for more papers by this author, Q. K. XingSearch for more papers by this author, X. H. LiSearch for more papers by this author, J. Y. YanSearch for more papers by this author, and S. WangSearch for more papers by this authorAffiliationsAuthors and Affiliations M. Liu † W. Zhang I. S. Manawasinghe Y. Zhou Q. K. Xing X. H. Li J. Y. Yan , Institute of Plant and Environment Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China S. Wang , Administrative Office of the Summer Palace, Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, Beijing 100080, China. Published Online:23 May 2018https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-17-1866-PDNAboutSectionsSupplemental ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailWechat Malus micromalus (crabapple) is an ornamental plant mainly distributed in northern China, where the spring climate is warm and dry (mean temperature 1.0 to 12.0°C). Typical trunk cankers on crabapple were observed at the Summer Palace, Beijing, in March 2017. The symptoms included warts on trunk, cracked periderm around warts, roughed bark with scaled periderm, and cankers often expanded and coalesced during dry weather, affecting the ornamental value of crabapple. Symptomatic tissues from the trunk were cut into small pieces (4 × 4 mm), surface-sterilized in 75% alcohol for 1 min, 1% NaClO for 1 min, and then rinsed three times with sterilized water. The sterilized tissues were cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates (three pieces of tissue per plate) and incubated at 25°C with a 12-h photoperiod for 7 days. Pure cultures of the suspected pathogen were obtained by hyphal-tip and single spore isolation techniques. The colonies on PDA were greenish olivaceous to olivaceous, with pure white, floccose to wooly aerial mycelium. Fifteen days post incubation, abundant, black, solitary, globose, peroblate to suboblate, and 50 to 175 µm (n = 50) diameter pycnidia were scattered over the medium. Conidia were aseptate, hyaline to brown, oval to obtuse, and 4.5 to 7.0 × 2.5 to 4.0 µm (n = 50). For molecular characterization, two representative isolates based on similar morphology characters were selected and four phylogenetic markers (LSU, ITS, TUB2, and RPB2) were amplified by PCR (Chen et al. 2015). The amplicons were sequenced and deposited in GenBank under accession numbers KY887674, KY887675, KY887672, KY887673, KY887678, KY887679, KY887676, and KY887677. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference phylogenetic trees were constructed using PAUP (phylogenetic analysis using parsimony) v. 4.0b10 and MrBayes v. 3.1.2. The isolates JZB380007 and JZB380009 clustered together with ex-type culture of Nothophoma quercina (CBS 633.92) with 100% bootstrap support and 1.00 Bayesian posterior probabilities support. Based on the morphological and molecular data, the isolates were identified as N. quercina (Aveskamp et al. 2010; Chen et al. 2015). To confirm pathogenicity, shoots were surface sterilized and wounds (4 mm diam., 1 mm depth) were made with a cork borer. The mycelial plug from mother colonies was placed on the wound, which was then covered with a Parafilm (BEMIS, U.S.A.). Wounded shoots were inoculated with only PDA plugs as controls. Inoculated shoots were placed under dark and moist conditions (70 to 90% RH) at 25°C. Fourteen days later, wounded shoots produced warts and showed peeling symptoms, but controls remained asymptomatic. The same fungus was reisolated from the inoculated shoots, confirming Koch’s postulates. N. quercina has been reported previously in the U.S.A., Tunisia, and Korea (Chen et al. 2013; Taieb et al. 2014; Yun et al. 2016). To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. quercina causing trunk canker in China. Therefore, our report would be useful for its management.

Comparison of three methods to multiply honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies

In Canada, there is a growing need for additional honey bee colonies to satisfy the demand for pollination services and compensate for high winter colony mortality. The objective of our study was to compare methodologies that would be both better structured and adapted to producing new colonies in today’s beekeeping industry. Efficacy of three colony production techniques was compared at the Deschambault Research Center for Animal Sciences, Quebec: package bees, one brood frame, two brood frames. Experimental colonies were monitored from July 2014 to June 2015, and several parameters were measured to evaluate their strength and the presence of pathogens. Results showed no statistical difference in colony strength between methods. However, making nuclei from one brood frame offered the greatest multiplication potential and the most advantageous economically. This study also confirmed that nuclei production reduces swarming and varroa infestation levels in mother colonies.

The Opposition of East and West in the Long Day Wanes Novel by Anthony Burgess

This year the literary public celebrates 100th anniversary of Anthony Burgess’ birth (1917-1993). The trilogy The Long Day Wanes is among early works of the author, but also the author considers perspective of the East and the West relationship here. In the article we consider the main lines of the characters representing the mother country and colony, also we designate evolution of heroes in the trilogy and we draw a conclusion on as far as the writer departs from the traditional ways the East-common English literature depicting in the first half of the 20th century. It is possible to allocate two tendencies of the East assessment in the trilogy: image of Asians as slowwitted and silly and, on the contrary, strange, difficult representatives of an exotic mentality. There is no uniformity in the image of colonialists. Some Europeans and British feel "at home", being in East space, like culture and mentality of the East, and some represent type of the colonialist treating everything as an object to study. The special attention is deserved by any representatives of "false" identity having lost themselves in someone else's system of values.

Dispersal strategies in the highly polygynous ant Crematogaster (Orthocrema) pygmaea Forel (Formicidae: Myrmicinae).

In ants, dispersal strategies and morphology of female sexuals are generally linked to the mode of colony founding. In species using long-range dispersal tactics, queen/worker dimorphism is generally high and young queens are able to initiate new colonies by themselves, using their metabolic reserves. By contrast, in species using short-range dispersal strategies, queen/worker dimorphism is generally low and, due to their limited metabolic reserves, queens have lost the capacity to raise their brood alone and to found their colony independently. Moreover, polygyny is also often associated with short-range dispersal strategies, although the relationship between the number of queens and the dispersal strategy in ants is not clear-cut. Here, dispersal strategies were investigated in C. pygmaea, a highly polygynous and polydomous ant species from northeastern Brazil. Field observations and laboratory experiments show that this ant exhibits a suite of traits that are more commonly associated with long-range dispersal and independent colony foundation: functional wings in both males and females, high queen/worker dimorphism, strong weight loss in mature queens, nuptial flights and, in the lab, ability of young queens to found new colonies in haplometrotic conditions. On the other hand, this species shows a high degree of polygyny with a strong seasonal component, and, at least under laboratory conditions, mature queens seem able to develop propagules if they are accompanied by at least 10 workers. These features strongly suggest that (1) some of the gynes do not engage in a long-range dispersal but become new queens in their mother colony and (2) that budding events are possible in this species. We therefore speculate that C. pygmaea has a dual dispersal strategy probably related to environmental conditions: some gynes engage in long-range dispersal followed by independent colony foundation at the beginning of rainy season, while others mate in the parental colony and are re-adopted leading to high polygyny. During the rainy season, budding events can lead to colony extension and increased polydomy. Polydomy is commonly thought to improve resource discovery and exploitation through decentralized foraging behavior, a significant advantage during the rainy season when food ressources (mainly floral/extrafloral nectaries and hemipteran honeydew) are more abundant and when colony needs for food supplies are highest.

The influence of slavemaking lifestyle, caste and sex on chemical profiles in Temnothorax ants: insights into the evolution of cuticular hydrocarbons.

Chemical communication is central for the formation and maintenance of insect societies. Generally, social insects only allow nest-mates into their colony, which are recognized by their cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). Social parasites, which exploit insect societies, are selected to circumvent host recognition. Here, we studied whether chemical strategies to reduce recognition evolved convergently in slavemaking ants, and whether they extend to workers, queens and males alike. We studied CHCs of three social parasites and their related hosts to investigate whether the parasitic lifestyle selects for specific chemical traits that reduce host recognition. Slavemaker profiles were characterized by shorter-chained hydrocarbons and a shift from methyl-branched alkanes to n-alkanes, presumably to reduce recognition cue quantity. These shifts were consistent across independent origins of slavery and were found in isolated ants and those emerging in their mother colony. Lifestyle influenced profiles of workers most profoundly, with little effect on virgin queen profiles. We detected an across-species caste signal, with workers, for which nest-mate recognition is particularly important, carrying more and longer-chained hydrocarbons and males exhibiting a larger fraction of n-alkanes. This comprehensive study of CHCs across castes and species reveals how lifestyle-specific selection can result in convergent evolution of chemical phenotypes.

Effect of LEDs Light Spectrum on Success of Fragmentation and Growth of Leather Coral <i>Sarcophyton</i> spp.

The increasing demand for soft corals is reflected on the high attention of the scientific community during the last decades, with several studies focus on production techniques and optimization of coral husbandry. However, coral culture success is influenced by the interaction of different factors, such as water movement, temperature, nutrients, heterotrophic feeding and light conditions. Light plays a key role in the growth, reproduction and physiology of corals that host phototrophic symbionts and it has been found that the photoresponse of corals is species-specific. Several studies have already focused on the effects of irradiance on coral and its algal symbionts. Although, only a few works have investigated the role of the spectral quality of light on coral photobiology, physiology and growth. In the present study, we hypothesize that light spectrum can influence the growth performance of Leather Coral Sarcophyton spp.when exposed at identical intensities of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). To test our hypothesis we evaluated the effect of contrasting light spectra with an identical PAR of 70 ± 10 μmol quantam −2 .s −1 emitted by T8 fluorescent lamps (used as a control treatment) and three different colours of Light Emitting Diode (LED), white, blue and red. It was evaluated survival and growth rates of Sarcophyton spp., an important soft coral in the marine aquarium trade and for the bioprospecting of marine natural compounds. Replicated coral fragments were obtained from two mother colonies and were exposed to the four types of light spectrum for a period of 30 days. At the end of the experiment period, the results showed 100% of survival in coral fragments, and specific growth rate (SGR) of 0,055 ± 0,09%/day in control group and 0,091 ± 0,019 %/day, 0,210 ± 0,031%/day and 0,380 ± 0,245%/day in, white, blue and red light, respectively. Moreover, in all treatments at end of experiment the zooxanthellae density was ±, ± and ± for white, blue and red light spectrum, respectively showing that all light promotes conditions for zooxanthellae growth. The results also showed a positive role of use a specific light spectrum in coral growth, namely blue and red spectrum. The use of light with specific light spectrum that increasing the growth and health of corals will minimizing the production costs, increasing the feasibility of ex situ production of ornamental corals and this study identify the best LED`s light spectrum for the growth of the leather coral Sarcophyton spp.

Nutritional input from dinoflagellate symbionts in reef-building corals is minimal during planula larval life stage.

Dispersion of larval offspring is of fundamental ecological importance to sessile marine organisms. Photosymbiotic planulae emitted by many reef-forming corals may travel over large distances before settling to form a new colony. It is not clear whether the metabolic requirements of these planula larvae are met exclusively with lipid and protein reservoirs inherited from the mother colony or when metabolic inputs from their endosymbiotic dinoflagellates become important. Pulse-chase experiments using [(13)C]bicarbonate and [(15)N]nitrate, combined with subcellular structural and isotopic imaging of freshly emitted symbiotic larvae from the coral Pocillopora damicornis, show that metabolic input from the dinoflagellates is minimal in the planulae compared with adult colonies. The larvae are essentially lecithotrophic upon emission, indicating that a marked shift in metabolic interaction between the symbiotic partners takes place later during ontogeny. Understanding the cellular processes that trigger and control this metabolic shift, and how climate change might influence it, is a key challenge in coral biology.

Mother City and Colony: Bioarchaeological Evidence of Stress and Impacts of Corinthian Colonisation at Apollonia, Albania

AbstractThis study uses bioarchaeological methods and interpretive frameworks, in conjunction with archaeological and textual evidence, to document and interpret the record of Greek colonial interactions between Corinth and local populations at Apollonia, Albania, in the region known as Illyria (modern Albania). A series of Illyrian human remains (n = 304; Early Iron Age–Hellenistic periods) and Corinthian human remains (n = 72; Neolithic–Hellenistic periods) were examined for evidence of physiological stress in order to characterise the impact of colonisation. Statistical comparisons of pre‐colonial and post‐colonial skeletal remains indicate that stress increased at Apollonia following colonisation. This change may have resulted from impoverishment following Corinth's extraction of local Illyrian resources and changes in sanitation and disease transmission associated with urbanism. Conversely, the record suggests a decrease in stress, although not to a significant extent, in Corinth. We speculate that decline in physiological stress in the Corinthian setting may reflect improved dietary quality and increased food availability. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Conservatives and conditional loyalty: The Rebellion Losses Crisis of 1849 in Montreal (Les conservateurs et la loyauté conditionnelle: la crise de la Loi d’indemnisation pour le Bas-Canada de 1849 à Montréal)

In 1849, the conservatives of Montreal engaged in a series of ostensibly disloyal actions: the burning of the Parliament, attacks on the Governor General, and the publication of the Annexation Manifesto. Yet even as they did so they refused to abandon the language of loyalty. Canadian conservatives instead chose to follow the political philosophy of John Locke, endorsing his ‘right of revolution’. In so doing, they demonstrated an ideology eerily similar to that of the American Patriots three quarters of a century earlier. They held a conditional conception of loyalty as a social contract between monarch and subject. The British Crown was seen to have broken this contract through its sanctioning of the Rebellion Losses Bill and its implicit support of ‘French Domination’. The connection between mother country and colony was now conceived as open to negotiation.

Dynamic changes in host-virus interactions associated with colony founding and social environment in fire ant queens (Solenopsis invicta).

The dynamics of host-parasite interactions can change dramatically over the course of a chronic infection as the internal (physiological) and external (environmental) conditions of the host change. When queens of social insects found a colony, they experience changes in both their physiological state (they develop their ovaries and begin laying eggs) and the social environment (they suddenly stop interacting with the other members of the mother colony), making this an excellent model system for examining how these factors interact with chronic infections. We investigated the dynamics of host-viral interactions in queens of Solenopsis invicta (fire ant) as they transition from mating to colony founding/brood rearing to the emergence of the first workers. We examined these dynamics in naturally infected queens in two different social environments, where queens either founded colonies as individuals or as pairs. We hypothesized that stress associated with colony founding plays an important role in the dynamics of host-parasite interactions. We also hypothesized that different viruses have different modalities of interaction with the host that can be quantified by physiological measures and genomic analysis of gene expression in the host. We found that the two most prevalent viruses, SINV-1 and SINV-2, are associated with different fitness costs that are mirrored by different patterns of gene expression in the host. In fact SINV-2, the virus that imposes the significant reduction of a queen's reproductive output is also associated with larger changes of global gene expression in the host. These results show the complexity of interactions between S.invicta and two viral parasites. Our findings also show that chronic infections by viral parasites in insects are dynamic processes that may pose different challenges in the host, laying the groundwork for interesting ecological and evolutionary considerations.

Negotiating Urban Environment and Economy in New York’s Little Syria, 1880-1946

Syrian immigrants populated New York’s Lower Manhattan, creating a neighborhood known as Little Syria. Sources employ “mother colony” and other evocative terms to highlight the unique importance of New York’s Arabic-speaking enclave to Syrian immigrant settlements throughout the United States. Yet no scholarly monograph on Little Syria, covering the entire period of its existence, from approximately 1880 to 1946, has been published. This article argues that early Syrian immigrants used their distinctive ethnicity to economic advantage within this urban enclave but exited its unhealthy environment as soon as they could. Like others, Syrians found unparalleled opportunities for mobility and financial success in New York. Manifesting an Arabic culture and an affinity for the middle class, they left Little Syria behind, and made no concerted attempt to preserve the old neighborhood. They embraced ethnicity as an economic virtue but distanced themselves from ethnicity as an environmental burden.

The effect of mixotrophy in the ex situ culture of the soft coral Sarcophyton cf. glaucum

In toto aquaculture is a promising approach towards the bioprospecting and production of bioactive compounds from the coral holobiont. Coral aquaculture ex situ allows a better control of culture conditions to maximize coral growth and reduce production costs. Light (either the Photosynthetically Active Radiation—PAR, or the emitted spectrum) is one of the most important factors affecting the growth of symbiotic corals, due to their association with photosynthetic dinoflagellates. Additionally, the balance between autotrophy and heterotrophy is also known to play a key role in the successful growth of mixotrophic corals. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of: 1) light spectrum (white and blue light), 2) PAR intensity (50 and 120μmolquantam−2s−1), and 3) heterotrophic feeding (rotifers—Brachionus plicatilis), in the physiology, photobiology and growth of coral fragments obtained from three mother colonies of the mixotrophic soft coral Sarcophyton cf. glaucum, cultured ex situ in recirculated systems during 80days. The supply of rotifers did not affect coral growth and promoted the increase of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations (DIN and DIP, respectively) in the water column. Coral fragments originating from the different mother colonies presented distinct responses to the tested light PAR intensities and spectra, as well as to the interaction of these factors with the supply of rotifers. We concluded that the variability displayed between different mother colonies of the same species can affect the growth response of corals under contrasting scenarios of mixotrophy. Statement of relevanceImprovement of in toto aquaculture of Sarcophyton cf. glaucum.

Bacterial communities from corals cultured ex situ remain stable under different light regimes — Relevance for in toto aquaculture

Microbial communities associated with corals are an important source of bioactive metabolites with great potential for drug discovery. However, culturing these symbiotic microbes is extremely complex and often impossible. In toto coral aquaculture performed ex situ (the culture of the holobiont–cnidarian host and associated microorganisms) has been suggested as a potential solution to solve the constraints of supplying metabolite biomass to fuel the drug discovery pipeline. In the present study we investigated if coral fragmentation and different light intensities (photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of 50, 80 and 120μmolquantam−2s−1) significantly affect the diversity and structure of the microbial communities present in the leather coral Sarcophyton cf. glaucum assessed through polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The diversity and structure of the bacterial communities present in mother colonies and fragments stocked under identical conditions remained stable two months post fragmentation, as well as between coral fragments stocked under different PAR intensities. The observed stability in the microbial community supports that in toto coral aquaculture may be a suitable option to produce metabolite biomass from symbiotic microorganisms. The possibility to employ a low PAR intensity to grow coral fragments without significantly affecting their microbial diversity and structure is likely to decrease aquaculture production costs and improve its economic viability.

Sexual reproduction and early life-history traits of the Mediterranean soft coral Alcyonium acaule

Understanding processes that contribute to a better comprehension of the population dynamics of long-lived species is critical for the maintenance and potential recovery of such species. Despite the abundance of soft corals in Mediterranean rocky reefs, little information exists on their life histories and reproductive patterns. In this study, we assessed the main reproductive characteristics and early life-history traits of the long-lived soft coral Alcyonium acaule. The sex ratio was 1:1; the smallest fertile colonies were one finger in size (2.1 ± 0.6 cm in height), and both colony and polyp fertility increased with colony size. Likewise, the number of eggs and spermary sacs per polyp increased significantly with colony size, whereas the diameter of the female and male sexual products did not. Over 6 years of observations (2007–2012), spawning occurred primarily in July, after the seawater reached 20 °C, in a single spawning episode per year. Approximately 80% of female colonies released eggs, which were retained on the surface of the mother colony by mucous strings for up to a few days. High fertilization rates were observed during spawning in 2008 and 2009 (94.9% and 87.0%, respectively). The timing of development was ~24 h for the blastulae, ~48–72 h for the planulae and 8–22 days for metamorphosis into primary polyps. Survivorship of planulae was relatively high (~50% at 45 days after release), but only 24% of larvae metamorphosed into primary polyps, and their survivorship was moderate after 2 months (65% in 2008 and 74% in 2009). Asexual reproduction was negligible, indicating that sexual reproduction is the main mechanism supporting the maintenance and recovery of populations.