The clear waters surrounding tropical coral reefs typically are oligotrophic, yet these reefs are highly productive and support dense populations of marine organisms. This paradox is resolved in part because many coral reef invertebrates accommodate unicellular autotrophs (‘‘zooxanthellae,’’ Symbiodinium spp.; Prochlorales, Prochloron sp.; cyanobacteria) within their tissues. These photoautotrophic symbioses entail an exchange of nutrients between the endosymbionts and the animal hosts. Organic compounds produced by the microalgal partners are released to the hosts for their nutrition while inorganic metabolic wastes are recycled to fertilize the algae (Muscatine 1990). The requirement for photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400–700 nm) also exposes such algalinvertebrate symbioses and other primary producers to high levels of environmental ultraviolet radiation (UVR 5 295–400 nm) in tropical waters (Smith and Baker 1979, Fleischmann 1989). These waters are often low in UV-absorbing particulate and dissolved organic matter, and sea level fluences of solar UV are high because of the short atmospheric path length and thinness of the stratospheric ozone layer above the tropics (Baker et al. 1980). Photoautotrophic symbiosis thus presents an evolutionary challenge by precluding the morphological development of an optically opaque barrier (such as hair, scales, and feathers in higher vertebrates) and potentially allows damaging UV radiation to reach vulnerable biomolecules in both partners. The problem is exacerbated because the tissues are hyperoxic (.250% air saturation: Kuhl et al.

Review—ultraviolet radiation-absorbing mycosporine-like amino acids in coral reef organisms: a biochemical and environmental perspective

http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2000/06/13/jbc.C000338200.full.pdf

Natural Animal Coloration Can Be Determined by a Nonfluorescent Green Fluorescent Protein Homolog

Publisher Summary
This chapter briefly discusses hormonal control of diapause. Diapause is an arrest in development accompanied by a major shutdown in metabolic activity. The evolution of diapause is arguably one of the most critical events bolstering the success of insects. The capacity to periodically shut down development has enabled insects and their arthropod relatives to invade environments that are seasonally hostile. Indeed, very few environments permit continuous insect development. Even in the tropics, where temperatures throughout the year may be compatible with ectotherm development, seasonal patterns of rainfall drive cycles of plant growth that favor insects with the ability to periodically become dormant. Unlike a simple quiescence that is an immediate response to an unfavorable environmental condition, diapause is a genetically programmed response that occurs at a specific stage for each species. Sometimes, the insect will enter diapause at this particular stage in each generation regardless of the environmental conditions it receives—a developmental program referred to as obligatory diapause. Much more frequently, the decision to enter diapause is determined by environmental factors, usually day length, received by that individual or its mother at an earlier developmental stage. This is referred to as facultative diapause.

10 – Hormonal Control of Diapause

Limnological surveys show that fossil pigment concentration is an accurate predictor of algal production. However, experimental and mass flux studies indicate that >90% of pigment is degraded to colourless compounds before permanent burial. To reconcile these views, this paper reviews current literature on pigment degradation and proposes a hierarchical control model for pigment deposition and fossil abundance. Over the widest range of production, pigment deposition and fossil concentration are proportional to algal standing crop. However, within a narrower range, the actual concentration of pigment in sediments is regulated by photo- and chemical oxidation. Three phases of loss exist: rapid oxidation in the water column (T1/2=days); slower post-depositional loss in surface sediments (T1/2=years); and very slow loss of double bonds in deep sediments (T1/2=centuries). Despite losses during deposition, fossil and algal abundance remain correlated through time, so long as there is no change in basin morphometry, light penetration, stratification or deepwater oxygen content. At the finest scale, food-web processes can increase the preservation of pigments from edible algae by incorporating pigments into feces that sink rapidly and bypass water column losses. As a consequence of selective loss during deposition and initial burial, carotenoid relative abundance is an unreliable measure of phytoplankton community composition. Instead, absolute concentration — scaled to the historical maximum — should be used for fossil interpretations.

A review of factors that regulate carotenoid and chlorophyll deposition and fossil pigment abundance

The discovery of the importance of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) as a factor affecting the biology of coral reefs dates only to about 1980. Interest has heightened during the past five years owing to the demonstration of loss of stratospheric ozone through human activities. We have only begun to document gross, qualitative effects of UVR on coral reef organisms, usually in experiments comparing the biological response to the presence or absence of UVR through the use of UV-cutoff filters, or to varying levels of UVR in transplantation studies. Most such studies have not distinguished between the effects of UVA (320–400 nm) and those of UVB (290–320 nm), although in the context of global change involving stratospheric ozone loss, it is the latter wavelengths that are relevant. To date we have been addressing physiological and ecological questions, not yet attempting to evaluate quantitatively the impact of forecast increases in solar UVB penetration. Interacting and synergistic effects of UVR with increased temperature, pollutants, sedimentation, visible light, etc. have scarcely been studied but will be essential to understanding and predicting the fate of coral reefs under conditions of global change.

Here we comprehensively review the effects of UVR on corals and other reef macroorganisms, mindful that although much is known of proximal effects, little of this knowledge is directly useful in making long-term predictions regarding the health of coral reefs. We conclude that even small anthropogenic increases in UVB levels will have sublethal physiological manifestations in corals and other reef organisms, but that this will have relatively small impact on the distribution of reef corals and coral reefs, perhaps affecting their minimum depths of occurrence.

Effects of ultraviolet radiation on corals and other coral reef organisms

SUMMARY

True carotenoproteins are defined as complexes in which a carotenoid and a protein are in stoichiometric combination. Very few carotenoproteins have been purified, but their presence in extracts may often be presumed from spectroscopic evidence. Carotenoids have been found in stoichiometric association with simple proteins, lipoproteins and glycoproteins. Many lipoproteins also occur in which carotenoids form part of the lipid prosthetic group. Although the relationship between the carotenoid and the remainder of the complex may in these cases not appear to be stoichiometric, it often shows some evidence of selectivity.



Carotenoproteins are widely distributed among the invertebrate phyla. They are found mainly in exoskeleton or ectoderm and in eggs and ovaries. Their isolation by standard techniques of protein chemistry is facilitated by their characteristic spectral properties.



The ease with which carotenoid prosthetic groups are removed from apoproteins suggests that covalent linkages are not involved in the complex formation. The union of carotenoid with apoprotein has been shown, in at least two cases, to stabilize the carotenoid against photo-oxidation and the protein against denaturative changes of tertiary structure. In crustacyanin, the carapace pigment of the lobster, there is clear evidence that the carotenoid is responsible for establishing the very complex quaternary structure.



Only astaxanthin, astaxanthin esters and canthaxanthin have been unequivocally identified as carotenoid prosthetic groups of true carotenoproteins. Experiments in the specificity of interaction of a series of carotenoids with the apoprotein of crustacyanin have indicated the requirement of one or both of the 4- and 4′-keto groups of the carotenoid for interaction with the protein.



It is suggested that, at least in this case, the carotenoid-protein interaction might occur between carotenoid keto groups and basic residues of the protein in such a way as to provide a lock on the tertiary configuration.



Carotenoproteins may participate in a variety of functions including protective coloration, photosensitivity, electron transport and enzymic activity. They appear, furthermore, to play some part in development.

P. F. Zagalsky

Papers

Carotenoproteins in invertebrates