Eggs and larvae of Acropora palmata and larvae of Porites astreoides contain high amounts of dimethylsulfoniopropionate

- Aposymbiotic Acropora palmata eggs and larvae contain high levels of DMSP.
- Brooded, symbiotic Porites astreoides larvae contain high levels of DMSP.
- Porites astreoides larval DMSP peaks by the second night of the release cycle.
- Our findings point to parental provisioning of DMSP in these coral species.

Coral holobionts, including their symbionts, are known to produce large amounts of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), a compound which some corals use to mitigate oxidative stress; however, very little work has been done on the presence and use of DMSP in early life history stages of coral, such as in eggs and larvae. This study shows that eggs and larvae, from Acropora palmata, and brooded larvae, from Porites astreoides, also contain high amounts of DMSP. Eggs and larvae of wild A. palmata were collected and contained extremely high levels of DMSP: 1.2 μmol per larva and 359 μmol per 100 μL eggs. Larvae of P. astreoides were collected in flow-through laboratory tanks, from wild-collected parent colonies, over the course of the larval release cycle. In brooded larvae of P. astreoides, the amount of DMSP in larvae ranged from 11.6 to 1510 nmol per larva; larval DMSP peaked by the second night of release and then decreased over the following release nights. These high levels in aposymbiotic eggs and larvae of A. palmata and the peaking trend in symbiotic larvae of P. astreoides are suggestive of parental provisioning. Given the large amounts of DMSP found in eggs and larvae, this study provides further evidence that even early life stages of the coral holobiont may benefit from the presence of DMSP.