Seafloor Animal Cued to Settle, Transformed by A Bacterial Compound
Published:17 May2022 Source:University of Hawaii at Manoa
Most bottom-dwelling marine invertebrate animals, such as sponges, corals, worms and oysters, produce tiny larvae that swim in the ocean prior to attaching to the seafloor and transforming into juveniles.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and led by University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa researchers revealed that a large, complex molecule, called lipopolysaccharide, produced by bacteria is responsible for inducing larval marine tubeworms, Hydroides elegans, to settle to the seafloor and begin the complex processes of metamorphosis.