Soft coral network diversity

Quantifying the morphology and morphogenesis of branching biological structures has recently progressed in systems across taxa. Our group focused on finding principles that govern the simple branching structure of gorgonians, flat soft corals commonly known as sea fans. Gorgonians have unusually plastic network topologies that are dependent on external environmental forces rather than tight DNA-encrypted regulation. Because of the quasi-2D morphology, these networks are amenable to high-throughput image analysis. We systematically compiled an image database of gorgonian morphologies including extant species sampled from every gorgonian order and several morphological variants of individual species. We then developed metrics to quantify their morphologies using simple measurements, and constructed a model dependent on local rules of self-organization that recapitulates many extant morphologies and is independent of a rigid genetic program. We believe that directing our focus to not-well-studied network systems like that of gorgonian morphology can bring forth novel information on network optimization.