Paper by OIST Researchers Published in Zoological Science

This is a high-magnification photo of the surface of staghorn coral, Acropora digitifera, whose genome sequence has been decoded. The brown tentacles are symbiotic dinoflagellate algae, symbiodinium. In a study published in the April 2012 issue of Zoological Science, published by the Zoological Society of Japan, Dr. Chuya Shinzato and other members of the OIST Marine Genomics Unit report the first repertoire of genes coding for coral fluorescent proteins in the Acropora digitifera genome. The green color shown may originate from such proteins. Following their decoding of the coral genome last summer, the members of the unit are currently working on deciphering the genome of the symbiodinium.