A non-living, microbe-based surface coating promotes tubeworm and coral settlement
Farrell, M. V.; Rix, L.; O'brien, P. A.; Dunbar, T. L.; Mahesh, S.; Kuek, F.; Shikuma, N. J.
Show abstract
A major barrier to scaling marine restoration and aquaculture is the lack of reliable tools to induce invertebrate larvae to settle and metamorphose when and where needed. Although microbial cues are known to induce metamorphosis in many invertebrates, existing methods rely on natural biofilms that are variable, difficult to standardize, and unsuitable for large-scale deployment. Here we introduce ReefTiles, a non-living bacterial coating that preserves inductive activity from metamorphosis-stimulating marine bacteria in a stable, reproducible format. Using both tubeworm and coral larvae, we show that dried and inactivated bacterial films retain full settlement-inducing capacity, matching or exceeding live biofilms while eliminating concerns associated with releasing viable microbes into the environment. Viability assays confirm inactivation, and the coating adheres reliably to common substrate materials. Because ReefTiles can be manufactured and stored at scale and tailored to different inductive strains, they provide a practical microbe-based biotechnology for enhancing larval settlement in reef restoration, sustainable aquaculture, and engineered marine infrastructure.
Matching journals
The top 10 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.
Similar papers in this journal
Similar papers in this journal
- Live imaging of Aiptasia larvae, a model system for studying coral bleaching, using a simple microfluidic device 95%
- Characterization of coral-associated microbial aggregates (CAMAs) within tissues of the coral Acropora hyacinthus 91%
- Horizontal "gene drives" harness indigenous bacteria for bioremediation 91%
Similar papers in this journal
- Bacterial cellulose spheroids as building blocks for 2D and 3D engineered living materials 93%
- Microbial Reduction of Metal-Organic Frameworks Enables Synergistic Chromium Removal 92%
- Biocomposite Thermoplastic Polyurethanes Containing Evolved Bacterial Spores as Living Fillers to Facilitate Polymer Disintegration 92%
"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.