A comparison of the effects of melatonin and bisphenol A on the behavior of motile zooxanthellae
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i2.2578Keywords:
coral, coral reef, zooxanthellae, cells, BPA, melatonin, pollutionAbstract
Bisphenol A (BPA) is classified as an organic chemical pollutant and has received global concern due to its widespread presence in the world’s ocean at relevant environmental concentrations as well as its various negative toxicological and reproductive effects. Endocrine disruption suggests that BPA may compete with hormone receptors involved in cell communication.
Melatonin is an indoleamine produced by many cnidarian species as well as some dinoflagellates. It is a natural neurotransmitter involved in processes such as movement, sexual maturation, metamorphosis, and reproduction.
Research by Ann Tarrant and others suggest that both substances play a role in cell signaling and communication and could be influencing the symbiosis between corals and zooxanthellae. It also proposes that melatonin and BPA share a competitive relationship in vertebrates, with melatonin lowering rates of BPA-induced proliferation of breast cancer cells.
This study aimed to examine the roles and relationships of BPA and melatonin in zooxanthellae, to better understand cell signaling and behavior in dinoflagellates, and explore the similarities and differences in these processes to other marine invertebrates as well as terrestrial vertebrates.
It found negative behavior in zooxanthellae at 100 parts per million BPA and determined that the endocrine-like signal transduction in some dinoflagellates and vertebrates is alike because melatonin and BPA share a competitive relationship in both. It is possible that BPA could be interfering with inter- and intraspecies signaling in marine organisms. Because of these findings, the presence of BPA in high concentrations in the ocean could be devastating to the world’s coral reefs.
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Copyright (c) 2022 Austin Jones; Dr. Lynell Martinez, Lisa Garrido
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