In a ground-breaking new study, scientists used innovative molecular techniques to explain how corals on the east coast of Australia survived previous tough conditions—enabling the Great Barrier Reef to become the vast reef it is today.
In a ground-breaking new study, scientists used innovative molecular techniques to explain how corals on the east coast of Australia survived previous tough conditions—enabling the Great Barrier Reef to become the vast reef it is today.
“We sequenced the genomes of 150 individual colonies of the same species of corals and used this to find out which genes are important for survival in inshore reefs,” said the study’s lead author Dr Ira Cooke from James Cook University.
“Genomes are like a time capsule containing an enormous wealth of historical information,” said co-author Professor David Miller from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE).
“Generally, single genomes are really useful in coral studies, but hundreds of genomes for the same species are a goldmine of information,” Prof Miller said.
Read more at ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Photo Credit: 127071 via Pixabay
