Live immune cells in corals and star anemones were first discovered

Source: Science and Technology Daily

The first discovery of live immune cells in corals and star anemones could help develop diagnostic tools to assess coral health

Science and Technology Daily Beijing, August 19 (Reporter Liu Xia) According to the physicist organization network reported on the 17th, American scientists have found immune cells for the first time in the body of staghorn cup corals and star anemones, which can help them deal with infections. The findings help to better understand how reef-building corals and other reef animals protect themselves from alien invaders, such as bacterial viruses inside and around coral reefs, and to develop diagnostic tools to assess coral health.

To discover these particular immune cells, scientists at the University of Miami's Rosenstir School of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Ben Gev ben Gurion University exposed the antler cup-shaped corals and star anemone bodies to foreign particles such as bacteria and fungal antigens in the lab, and then they used a fluorescently activated cell sorting method to distinguish between different cell populations.

It turned out that special cells called phagocytes engulfed foreign particles, and these cells were filled with small liquid structures, the phagocytosis, which destroyed invaders and their own damaged cells. In addition, immune cells make up about three percent of the total number of cells, and these species have at least two populations of immune cells that perform specific digestive functions. An animal's immune system provides an important protective defense response to recognize and destroy foreign bodies in its tissues.

Nicky Traller Knowles, an assistant professor of ecology in the Rosenstyle School of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, said: "These findings are important because they show that corals have infection-fighting cells and that they have previously unknown cell types. In the latest issue of Frontiers in Immunology, the researchers note: "We need to better understand how coral cells function specifically and how they fight infections as the climate change crisis drastically reduces the biomass and diversity of coral reefs worldwide." The latest findings have also helped us develop diagnostic tools to assess coral health. ”