ABSTRACT
Scleractinian corals are the keystone animals that create coral reef ecosystems, which possess the highest marine biodiversity on the planet. They comprise one of the major groups of cnidarians, accounting for more than 10% of the phylum Cnidaria. Despite their ecological importance, our understanding of the biological characteristics of corals remains weak. In particular, their neurobiology has been largely unexplored; however, recently, some important advances have been made in that regard. The existence of neurons and neuropeptides in corals was first demonstrated in 2019. In addition, neuropeptides were shown to be involved in polyp contraction, a physiological response in corals. This chapter presents recent advances in coral neurobiology, with a focus on the glycine-leucine-tryptophan-amide family of neuropeptides (GLWamides). This chapter also covers current knowledge of GLWamides from adult corals, including the full-length cDNA of the preprohormone, predicted sequences of peptides, distributions of mRNA and peptides (GLWamide-positive [GLWamide+] neurons), and 318their possible physiological functions. Finally, we discuss future prospects in coral neurobiology.
