“This project has both practical and scientific significance. It will help us to understand how corals build reefs – and why they fail to do so when they are under stress” says Professor David Miller of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University.

Complex DNA
This is the first animal genome project to be carried out entirely in Australia, and is an important milestone in Australian biotechnology and in the study of coral reefs, said the researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF).
Their study shows that corals may look like simple animals, but their DNA is surprisingly complex. In fact, David Miller says, corals have about the same number of genes as man, and many of them are remarkably like ours.

“The Pacific coral, Acropora millepora, is already the best-characterised coral at the molecular level and has yielded important insights into the evolution of all animals,” he explains. “The availability of the genome sequence will enable major advances in the understanding of many aspects of coral biology, including the responses of corals to climate change, ocean acidification, pollution and disease.”

Scientific significance
“This project has both practical and scientific significance. It will help us to understand how corals build reefs – and why they fail to do so when they are under stress” says Professor David Miller of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University.

“Corals have iconic significance for Australia. We have the best-preserved coral reef system in the world and the Great Barrier Reef is a cornerstone of a $6 billion a year tourist industry. As reefs elsewhere in the world decline, this value will grow if we can keep our reefs healthy and intact” explains Doctor Eldon Ball from the Australian National University (ANU).

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