Tambutté, Sylvie, Tambutté, Eric, Zoccola, Didier, Caminiti, Natacha, Lotto, Severine, Moya, Aurélie, Allemand, Denis, and Adkins, Jess (2007) Characterization and role of carbonic anhydrase in the calcification process of the azooxanthellate coral Tubastrea aurea. Marine Biology, 151 (1). pp. 71-83.

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Abstract

In zooxanthellate corals, the photosynthetic fixation of carbon dioxide and the precipitation of CaCO₃ are intimately linked both spatially and temporally making it difficult to study carbon transport mechanisms involved in each pathway. When studying Tubastrea aurea, a coral devoid of zooxanthellae, we can focus on carbon transport mechanisms involved only in the calcification process. We performed this study to characterize T. aurea carbonic anhydrase and to determine its role in the calcification process. We have shown that inhibition of tissular carbonic anhydrase activity affects the calcification rate. We have measured the activity of this enzyme both in the tissues and in the organix matrix extracted from the skeleton. Our results indicate that organic matrix proteins, which are synthesized by the calcifying tissues, are not only structural proteins, but they also play a crucial catalytic role by eliminating the kinetic barrier to interconversion of inorganic carbon at the calcification site. By immunochemistry we have demonstrated the presence of a protein both in the tissues and in the organic matrix, which shares common features with prokaryotic carbonic anhydrases.

Item ID:	45249
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-1793
Keywords:	carbonic anhydrase, carbon, calcification, coral, biomineralization, organic matrix
Funders:	Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), Government of the Principality of Monaco (GPM), California Institute of Technology (CIT)
Date Deposited:	19 Aug 2016 00:05
FoR Codes:	06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0608 Zoology > 060808 Invertebrate Biology @ 60% 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0603 Evolutionary Biology > 060399 Evolutionary Biology not elsewhere classified @ 20% 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology > 060199 Biochemistry and Cell Biology not elsewhere classified @ 20%
SEO Codes:	97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
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