| Budget Amount *help |
¥5,590,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,290,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
|
|---|
| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Fine structure during the establishment, maintenance and breakdown of a coral-zooxanthella symbiotic system was examined. Suitable chemical and freeze fixation methods were applied for observing various cellular membranes clearly. When corals were treated with high temperatures, gastroderm cells without zooxanthellae autolyzed first, followed by the disconnection of cells with zooxanthellae away from gastroderm, so that the symbiotic system was broken down. Zooxanthellae in coral cells were found to have several distinct layers on the cortex. After cell divisions of zooxanthellae, symbiosome membranes and these layers were cleaved by constriction into two parts and enveloped the daughter cells. This process may ensure to distribute zooxanthellae into coral cells for the maintenance of the symbiotic system. Free-living zooxanthellae were attracted inward the gastric cavities of polyps in early developing corals and incorporated into gastroderm cells to establish the symbiotic systems.
|
