The Franco-Taiwanese CNP project aims to better understand the biological characteristics of scleractiniae by focusing on their neurobiology.
The scleractinians or “hard corals” belong to the phylum of the cnidarians including the sea anemones, the hydra and the jellyfish. These animals do not have a central nervous system or brain, but present a simple and diffuse nervous system.
Like most species of cnidarians, these corals are sessile, and have developed an efficient neuro-sensory system that allows them to perceive the biotic and abiotic factors of the environment.
These species have adaptation mechanisms in the face of fluctuating environmental factors, in order to regulate their physiological state, and to develop defense mechanisms or immune mechanisms to deal with pathogens.
The biology and in particular the neurobiology of corals have been little explored to date. In some cnidarians such as Hydra and jellyfish, it has been demonstrated that neuropeptides, short linear polypeptides released by neurons, play an essential role in their physiological functions. The identified neuropeptides act as modulators and/or hormones in various processes physiological processes such as the fixation and metamorphosis of larvae, the contraction of polyps, the maturation and emission of gametes, and immunity. Neuropeptides thus appear as key elements, essential to understand the biology and physiology of cnidarians. In corals, only two families of neuropeptides have been studied so far.
The objective of the CNP project is to explore the biology of corals by comprehensively identifying neuropeptides using omics approaches, determining their functions and their distributions as well as the evolution of their expressions in the face of environmental changes.
CNP has obtained funding from the ANR.
