Corals and Coralline Organisms in Seri Culture: Traditional and Modern Uses

Narchi, Nemer E.; Marlett, Cathy Moser; Bertsch, H

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23763-3_6

Cited by 2 publications

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“…While they have historically been used by humans as money (Tescione, 1973), jewelry (Gress and Andradi-Brown, 2018), and curios (Grigg, 1993), black corals also display a variety of medicinal properties. As suggested by their name (antipathes is Greek for "against diseases") black corals and their extracts have historically been used in medical treatments including antibacterial activity, reducing fever, pain, and swelling, treating ulcers, and curing lung conditions (Narchi et al, 2015;Peña Moreno, 2017). From a pharmacological perspective, chitin can be deacetylated in alkaline conditions or enzymatically converted to chitosan, a stable non-toxic polymer; this chitosan and its derivatives then displays antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties (review by Nuc and Dobrzycka-Krahel, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proteomic Profiling of Black Coral (Antipatharia) Skeleton Reveals Hundreds of Skeleton-Associated Proteins Across Two Taxa

Drake

Mass

2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Black corals, ecologically important cnidarians found from shallow to deep ocean depths, form a strong yet flexible skeleton of sclerotized chitin and other biomolecules including proteins. The structure and mechanical properties of the chitin component of the skeleton have been well-characterized. However, the protein component has remained a mystery. Here we used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to sequence proteins extracted from two species of common Red Sea black corals following either one or two cleaning steps. We detected hundreds of proteins between the two corals, nearly 70 of which are each other’s reciprocal best BLAST hit. Unlike stony corals, only a few of the detected proteins were moderately acidic (biased toward aspartic and/or glutamic acid residues) suggesting less of a role for these types of proteins in black coral skeleton formation as compared to stony corals. No distinct chitin binding domains were found in the proteins, but proteins annotated as having a role in protein and chitin modifications were detected. Our results support the integral role of proteins in black coral skeleton formation, structure, and function.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proteomic Profiling of Black Coral (Antipatharia) Skeleton Reveals Hundreds of Skeleton-Associated Proteins Across Two Taxa

Drake

Mass

2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…Many cultures, past and present, use marine medicines (Narchi et al 2015a). Among these, the modern Seris (Comcaac), a fishing society native to the Central Gulf Region of the Sonoran Desert, still practice an extensive use of marine resources (Bertsch and Marlettt 2011).…”

Section: Conspicuousness In Marine Organisms Rich In Biologically Actmentioning

confidence: 99%

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2017

JEA

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Nabhan for their help while in the Seriland. I am deeply in debt with Arli De Luca and Alberto Burquez who have long heard and helped polish the idea that aposematism can effect human cognition. Thanks to Diogo Samia for providing me with the R code for calculating COI and to Dr. Marco Augusto Miranda-Ackerman for assisting me through the use of R. The final manuscript received helpful comments from Lisa L. Price, precise edits from Cathy Moser Marlett and kind and thoughtful comments from anonymous reviewers. I thank the support of El Colegio de Michoacán and Jesus Medina, Research Assistants who greatly helped with the minute details of the final manuscript.This crib notes is available in Journal of Ecological Anthropology: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jea/vol19/iss1/1 Narchi / Aposematism for Discovering Organismal Medicines Aposematism: An Alternative Hypothesis on How We Discover Medicinal Organisms INTRODUCTIONEarly in the academic life of anthropologists, introductory courses and textbooks suggest vision as being the most prominent of the senses used by primates (e.g., Kottak 2008:136; Relethford 1997:153-154). Such ideas are a mere reflection of the general trend in research, namely that the adaptive significance of primate color vision is seen almost exclusively in terms of foraging advantages (Miller 2002:59).In this paper, I examine the idea that primate color vision, namely binocular stereoscopic trichromic vision, is not only a successful adaptation to facilitate hand-eye coordination for object manipulation or the recognition of ripe fruits and tender leaves (Melin et al. 2013), but a broader and more powerful adaptation capable of sending large chunks of environmental Nemer E. Narchi ABSTRACTThe most widely accepted theories as to how primates select medicinal organisms are based on smelling and tasting bitter-and most of the times toxic-plants (Etkin and Ross 1982; Johns 1990 Crib Notesinformation about the existence of secondary metabolites in the surrounding environment. In doing so, I propose that aposematism, a conspicuous display that organisms possessing chemical defenses use as a warning signal to would-be predators (Poulton 1890), enables humans, and perhaps other primates, to select, conceptualize, and use medicinal organisms. I provide empirical examples from marine and terrestrial environments. Finally, I sketch a plausible methodology to test the hypothesis that there is a visual detection of medicinal organisms WITH BITTER HERBS THEY SHALL EATEthnobiologists have long struggled to explain how different human societies independently developed local pharmacopoeias (Berlin and Berlin 1994:242). However it is a highly supported claim that humans Journal of Ecological AnthropologyVol. 19 No. 1 2017 use perceptual givens to discern and organize biodiversity (Berlin 1992:9).Organizing biodiversity is a quotidian practice that shapes human behavior and decision-making processes by means of linking schemas, models, and contingencies (Gragson and Blount 1999:xv). In this regard, organolept...

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Corals and Coralline Organisms in Seri Culture: Traditional and Modern Uses

Cited by 2 publications

References 49 publications

Proteomic Profiling of Black Coral (Antipatharia) Skeleton Reveals Hundreds of Skeleton-Associated Proteins Across Two Taxa

Proteomic Profiling of Black Coral (Antipatharia) Skeleton Reveals Hundreds of Skeleton-Associated Proteins Across Two Taxa

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