Meeting Abstract
Cnidarians rely on the innate immune defenses based on self/non-self recognition, signaling and effector responses to kill pathogens and heal wounds. Like other invertebrates, the immune system of cnidarians can be classified into several functional components and many of these elements have now been described in various cnidarian model systems. These include pattern recognition receptors, both external and cytosolic, signaling such as NF-kb and prophenoloxidase, effectors such as anti-microbial proteins, and wound repair including apoptosis, autophagy and cellular migration. Specifically corals and the increase in coral disease outbreaks have presented opportunities to examine how immunity functions in directing disease phenotypes. This talk will describe new experiments, approaches and meta-analyses in the Mydlarz lab to elucidate the coral immune response. Several examples will be highlighted that have furthered our knowledge of the various stages of the immune response include the immune response of corals to pathogen associated molecular patterns, immune response to an active infection of white plague and a late stage immune response to a novel disease. Special emphasis will be on linking gene repertoires to the signaling proteins and molecules as well as to cellular activity that lead to disease phenotypes.
