Investigating Suspected Light Sensitivity of Potential Opsin Proteins in Pocillopora damicornis

Model organisms like Homo sapiens, Drosophila, and E. coli, while useful to various fields of study, present a problem to the scientific community: many other organisms’ proteins, metabolic processes, and biochemical mechanisms are not as well understood by comparison. Pocillopora damicornis (Pdam), like many other coral organisms, faces environmental stresses and threats to its survival in ocean ecosystems with limited understanding of its biochemical mechanisms, making it difficult to help preserve. However, upon analyzing the symbiotic relationship of Pdam and photosynthetic algae, it was reasoned that the coral organism is capable of detecting light. Following up with results of prior bioinformatics analysis courtesy of Kumar, L., Klein-Seetharaman, J., Et. Al, it was proposed that light sensitive proteins in corals are the following four candidates: 2270, 12246, 629, 19775. If chromophores form and their opsin shifts can be visualized in the case in any of the coral candidate opsin genes, it supports the hypothesis that the proteins are indeed a light sensitive opsin protein. If a light sensitive opsin protein is identified, it provides a direction by which efforts can be directed towards to understand corals at the biochemical level for their preservation in the face of unprecedented threats to sustainability.