Meganuclease-assisted generation of stable transgenics in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) is an emerging model organism, and we have maintained a colony at the Stowers Institute since 2007. Nematostella are known as a simple sea anemone, related to other cnidarians such as jellyfish and corals. Native to estuarine environments across the Atlantic coast of North America, from Novia Scotia to Florida, they encounter a variety of environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, salinity). Acknowledging that husbandry conditions and environmental parameters can impact research results we provide information about the housing, nutrition, maintenance, and health for our colony of Nematostella. This information will be applicable to any Nematostella housed in the facility in 2021.

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Development and epithelial organisation of muscle cells in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

Frontiers in Zoology ◽

10.1186/1742-9994-11-44 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 44 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Stefan M Jahnel ◽

Manfred Walzl ◽

Ulrich Technau

Keyword(s):

Muscle Cells ◽

Sea Anemone ◽

Nematostella Vectensis

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Germ-layer commitment and axis formation in sea anemone embryonic cell aggregates

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1711516115 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 115 (8) ◽

pp. 1813-1818 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Anastasia Kirillova ◽

Grigory Genikhovich ◽

Ekaterina Pukhlyakova ◽

Adrien Demilly ◽

Yulia Kraus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Normal Development ◽

Developmental Trajectories ◽

Embryonic Cell ◽

Sea Anemone ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Nematostella Vectensis ◽

Axis Formation ◽

Cell Aggregates ◽

Embryonic Cells ◽

Developmental Context

Robust morphogenetic events are pivotal for animal embryogenesis. However, comparison of the modes of development of different members of a phylum suggests that the spectrum of developmental trajectories accessible for a species might be far broader than can be concluded from the observation of normal development. Here, by using a combination of microsurgery and transgenic reporter gene expression, we show that, facing a new developmental context, the aggregates of dissociated embryonic cells of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis take an alternative developmental trajectory. The self-organizing aggregates rely on Wnt signals produced by the cells of the original blastopore lip organizer to form body axes but employ morphogenetic events typical for normal development of distantly related cnidarians to re-establish the germ layers. The reaggregated cells show enormous plasticity including the capacity of the ectodermal cells to convert into endoderm. Our results suggest that new developmental trajectories may evolve relatively easily when highly plastic embryonic cells face new constraints.

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