Clade-Specific Sterol Metabolites in Dinoflagellate Endosymbionts Are Associated with Coral Bleaching in Response to Environmental Cues

Abstract

These results indicate that sterol metabolites in Symbiodiniaceae are clade specific, that their biosynthetic pathways share architectural and substrate specificity features with those of animals and plants, and that environmental stress-specific perturbation of sterol biosynthesis in dinoflagellates can impair a key mutualistic partnership for healthy reefs.