Estudo morfofuncional da gametogênese do coral Mussismilia harttii (Verrill, 1868): desenvolvimento interdisciplinar de ferramentas aplicadas à conservação da espécie endêmica do Brasil e ameaçada de extinção

• Ano de defesa: 2025
• Autor(a) principal: Wanderson Valente dos Santos
• Outros Autores: Gleide Fernandes de Avelar, Leandro César de Godoy, Cristiano Macedo Pereira, Nilo Bazzoli, Daniela Chemim de Melo Hoyos, Talita de Oliveira Faria
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
• Palavras-chave em Português: Biologia Celular; Coral; Reprodução; Gametogênese
• Link de acesso: https://hdl.handle.net/1843/81428

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems on the planet. Although they occupy an area of less than 1% of the ocean, they play an important role in renewing fish stocks. In addition, they have great pharmacological potential and serve as protective barriers for coastal regions. Corals are metazoans and have a close symbiotic relationship with unicellular organisms called zooxanthellae. They have a simple life cycle that comprises two phases: the larval phase (free life) and the polyp phase, which attaches to the substrate, and its reproduction can occur asexually or sexually. The most common form of asexual reproduction occurs through budding from a polyp or through colony fragmentation while sexual reproduction is based on the production of gametes. Mussismilia harttii is among the main species that build Brazilian reefs, but it already suffers from constant bleaching events, due to the increase of the ocean temperature, and is under threat of extinction. Some safe techniques to preserve the existence of corals are related to basic knowledge of their reproductive biology. Immunohistochemistry and ultrastructural evaluation applied to the reproductive biology of Brazilian corals is limited to a few reports in the literature. Only two studies have analyzed the morphological organization and ultrastructure of the M. harttii coral package and mature gametes. However, studies of gametogenesis based on immunohistochemistry and ultrastructure have never been performed for any Brazilian coral species. The present work used these techniques to characterize the phases of gamete formation of the endemic coral M. harttii. The characterization of spermatogenesis and oogenesis will allow us to know in detail about the formation of gametes and will provide subsidies to better understand the structures that may be related to the formation of gamete packages, with spawning and fertilization in the species.