Zooxanthellae and their Symbiotic Relationship with Marine Corals
Introduction
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Introduce the topic of your paper. What microorganisms are of interest? Habitat? Applications for medicine and/or environment?
Introduction
Zooxanthellae is the common name of the broader Symbiodinium genus, but specifically is the brown to yellow algae that lives in coral’s gastrodermis (3). Zooxanthellae is a term for any dinoflagellate that participates in symbiosis with sponges, coral, clams, mollusks, flatworms, jellyfish, etc (1,2). It is an algal protist that is best known for its symbiotic relationship with marine coral. Zooxanthellae usually occur in extremely high densities on their host, enhancing the constant exchange of nutrients between them and their host.
Shape
Corals are usually colonies of polyps. Polyps are live coral tissue extensions that cover the calcium carbonate structure, and are usually only a few millimeters thick. The tissue has two layers, the epidermis and the gastrodermis where the zooxanthellae live (36). Zooxanthellae are unicellular and spherical with two flagella that fall off once they are incorporated within a host. Zooxanthellae undergo asexual reproduction by division, and most of their energy comes from performing photosynthesis using the byproducts of cellular respiration produced from the host coral.
