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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
10:39
Multimodal Optical Microscopy Methods Reveal Polyp Tissue Morphology and Structure in Caribbean Reef Building Corals
Published on: September 5, 2014
Evolution of coral pigments recreated
Juan A Ugalde1, Belinda S W Chang, Mikhail V Matz
1Whitney Laboratory, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|September 9, 2004
Summary
Red fluorescence in green fluorescent protein (GFP) homologs requires three steps, unlike the two needed for green. In corals, red fluorescence evolved independently and gradually, differing from other GFP-related red proteins.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Evolutionary Biology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Green fluorescent protein (GFP) homologs exhibit diverse fluorescence colors.
- Red fluorescence typically requires a more complex three-step autocatalytic process compared to the two steps for green fluorescence.
- Convergent evolution may explain the independent development of the three-step pathway in different GFP lineages.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolutionary pathway of red fluorescence in the GFP superfamily.
- To determine the ancestral color state in the great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa).
- To understand the specific evolutionary trajectory of red fluorescence in M. cavernosa.
Main Methods:
- Recreating ancestral proteins from the GFP superfamily.
- Analyzing the autocatalytic steps required for fluorescence in reconstructed ancestral proteins.
- Comparative analysis of fluorescence mechanisms across different GFP homologs.
Main Results:
- A recreated common ancestor of green and red fluorescent proteins from M. cavernosa was green.
- This finding suggests that red fluorescence in M. cavernosa evolved independently from most other red GFP homologs.
- The evolution of red color in this lineage appears to have occurred through gradual, incremental changes.
Conclusions:
- The evolution of red fluorescence is not solely driven by convergent evolution of the three-step pathway.
- Red fluorescence in M. cavernosa represents an independent evolutionary event.
- Gradual transitions, rather than a single complex step, likely facilitated the evolution of red fluorescence in this species.
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