A self-limiting choir?

The sun coral’s ability to disperse itself and its high capacity for regeneration and reproduction have led it to spread along much of the Brazilian coast. The environmental authorities and the public prosecutor’s office, motivated by the risks raised by some sectors of the scientific community, have created regulations that today affect port and shipping activities, mainly, but not exclusively, in the peg sector. at we have started a program to develop a biotechnological solution to control the sun coral. We want to build a self-limiting organism on the models that researchers have produced for dengue and malaria mosquitoes. To achieve this goal, we needed to learn as much as possible about these species in a short space of time. The genome is the repository of information that allows an organism to develop, grow, reproduce and disperse. Not only is all the information about their biology, physiology, anatomy and life habits there, but there is also information about their capacity for tolerance and resistance to environmental factors and susceptibility to disease. Like the geological record, the genome also provides clues about evolution. To do this, we sequenced the genomes of 3 species of sun coral, assembling the best coral genomes available to date and creating a database that is essential for the development of a self-limiting organism.

The genome of the sun coral is unprecedented, having never before been published in scientific literature. In fact, there are still very few coral genomes published, considering the abundance and diversity of this group: only 5. This is because assembling a genome is still a highly difficult endeavor. It took a huge effort by a large team to assemble these three genomes in 18 months. Few other groups would have the resources to carry out this endeavor.

The technology for developing a self-limiting organism is quite new and there are few projects in the world trying to apply it to the control of invasive species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only gene-drive project or self-limiting organism in corals.

The publication of the genomes of 3 species of sun coral takes research into the development of control solutions to a new level. The genome is the repository of information that allows an organism to develop, grow, reproduce and disperse. Not only is all the information about their biology, physiology, anatomy and life habits there, but there is also information about their capacity for tolerance and resistance to environmental factors and susceptibility to disease. With the genome, resistance and susceptibility pathways were mapped. We have begun research into the CaCO3 synthesis pathways that can lead to reduced growth. Asexual reproduction routes that can lead to population collapse. Routes of sexual reproduction that can allow gene-drive control.

The N50 and BUSCO parameters show the high quality of our genomes, which could serve as a reference for the development of a biotechnological control strategy. The technology for developing self-limiting organisms is very new and there are few precedents for determining a regulatory roadmap. The development of a self-limiting organism can be considered research for pesticide development by IBAMA and requires specific authorization. The self-limiting organism itself is considered a GMO and its use would be linked to an authorization from the national biosafety commission CTNBio. The commercial use of this GMO to control coral sol in the environment would be linked to marketing authorization from IBAMA. All these steps have been overcome by OXITEC’s OGM mosquito, approved in Brazil for Dengue control, the main precedent for our product.