scholarly journals A detailed observation of the ejection and retraction of defense tissue acontia in sea anemone (Exaiptasia pallida)

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e2996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Lam ◽  
Ya-Wen Cheng ◽  
Wan-Nan U. Chen ◽  
Hsing-Hui Li ◽  
Chii-Shiarng Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Pressure ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Defense Behavior ◽  
Gastrovascular Cavity ◽  
Detailed Observation ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida

Acontia, located in the gastrovascular cavity of anemone, are thread-like tissue containing numerous stinging cells which serve as a unique defense tissue against predators of the immobile acontiarian sea anemone. Although its morphology and biological functions, such as defense and digestion, have been studied, the defense behavior and the specific events of acontia ejection and retraction are unclear. The aim of this study is to observe and record the detailed process of acontia control in anemones. Observations reveal that the anemone,Exaiptasia pallida, possibly controls a network of body muscles and manipulates water pressure in the gastrovascular cavity to eject and retract acontia. Instead of resynthesizing acontia after each ejection, the retraction and reuse of acontia enables the anemone to respond quickly at any given time, thus increasing its overall survivability. Since theExaiptasiaanemone is an emerging model for coral biology, this study provides a foundation to further investigate the biophysics, neuroscience, and defense biology of this marine model organism.

Starlet Sea Anemone (Nematostella vectensis) 2021 Environmental Summary, Reptile & Aquatics, Stowers Institute for Medical Research v1

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane C. Miller ◽  
Diana P Baumann ◽  
M. Shane Merryman
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Nematostella Vectensis ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Impact Research

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.

Assessing the chronic toxicity of copper and aluminium to the tropical sea anemone Exaiptasia pallida

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 408-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie A. Trenfield ◽  
Joost W. van Dam ◽  
Andrew J. Harford ◽  
David Parry ◽  
Claire Streten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Toxicity ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Tropical Sea ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida

scholarly journals The Rapid Regenerative Response of a Model Sea Anemone Species Exaiptasia pallida Is Characterised by Tissue Plasticity and Highly Coordinated Cell Communication

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-307
Author(s):  
Chloé A. van der Burg ◽  
Ana Pavasovic ◽  
Edward K. Gilding ◽  
Elise S. Pelzer ◽  
Joachim M. Surm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Communication ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Regenerative Response ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida

On the food of the Antarctic sea anemone Urticinopsis antarctica Carlgren, 1927 (Actiniidae, Actiniaria, Anthozoa)

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Yu. Ivanova ◽  
S.D. Grebelnyi
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Gastropod Species ◽  
Gastrovascular Cavity ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Sterechinus Neumayeri ◽  
The Family ◽  
Invertebrate Animals ◽  
The Antarctic

The results of an investigation into coelenteron content of the Antarctic sea anemone Urticinopsis antarctica Carlgren, 1927 are presented. Remains of invertebrate animals and fishes were found in the gastrovascular cavity of anemones. Some of them were damaged by digestion and were considered as food items of U. antarctica. These items were molluscs Addamussium colbecki (Smith, 1902), Laevilacunaria pumilia Smith, 1879, Eatoniella caliginosa Smith, 1875 and one not strictly identified gastropod species from the family Rissoidae; a crinoid from the family Comatulida; sea-urchin Sterechinus neumayeri Meissner, 1900; ophiuroid Ophiurolepis brevirima Mortensen, 1936 and a fish Trematomus sp. In contrast to the prey mentioned above, three specimens of amphipods Conicostoma sp. were not destroyed by digestion. They may represent commensals, which live in the gastrovascular cavity of the anemone.

scholarly journals Worldwide exploration of the microbiome harbored by the cnidarian model,Exaiptasia pallida(Agassiz in Verrill, 1864) indicates a lack of bacterial association specificity at a lower taxonomic rank

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Brown ◽  
Christopher Otero ◽  
Alejandro Grajales ◽  
Estefania Rodriguez ◽  
Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Microbial Community ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Microbial Consortia ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Core Microbiome ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida

Examination of host-microbe interactions in early diverging metazoans, such as cnidarians, is of great interest from an evolutionary perspective to understand how host-microbial consortia have evolved. To address this problem, we analyzed whether the bacterial community associated with the cosmopolitan and model sea anemoneExaiptasia pallidashows specific patterns across worldwide populations ranging from the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. By comparing sequences of the V1–V3 hypervariable regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, we revealed that anemones host a complex and diverse microbial community. When examined at the phylum level, bacterial diversity and abundance associated withE. pallidaare broadly conserved across geographic space with samples, containing largelyProteobacteriaandBacteroides.However, the species-level makeup within these phyla differs drastically across space suggesting a high-level core microbiome with local adaptation of the constituents. Indeed, no bacterial OTU was ubiquitously found in all anemones samples. We also revealed changes in the microbial community structure after rearing anemone specimens in captivity within a period of four months. Furthermore, the variation in bacterial community assemblages across geographical locations did not correlate with the composition of microalgalSymbiodiniumsymbionts. Our findings contrast with the postulation that cnidarian hosts might actively select and maintain species-specific microbial communities that could have resulted from an intimate co-evolution process. The fact thatE. pallidais likely an introduced species in most sampled localities suggests that this microbial turnover is a relatively rapid process. Our findings suggest that environmental settings, not host specificity, seem to dictate bacterial community structure associated with this sea anemone. More than maintaining a specific composition of bacterial species some cnidarians associate with a wide range of bacterial species as long as they provide the same physiological benefits towards the maintenance of a healthy host. The examination of the previously uncharacterized bacterial community associated with the cnidarian sea anemone modelE. pallidais the first global-scale study of its kind.

scholarly journals Experimentally Induced Bleaching in the Sea Anemone Exaiptasia Supports Glucose as a Main Metabolite Associated with Its Symbiosis

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Víctor Hugo Molina ◽  
Raúl Eduardo Castillo-Medina ◽  
Patricia Elena Thomé
Keyword(s):  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Main Metabolite ◽  
Glucose Levels ◽  
Carbon Translocation ◽  
Specific Activities ◽  
Glycerol 3 Phosphate Dehydrogenase ◽  
Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida ◽  
Photosynthate Translocation

Our current understanding of carbon exchange between partners in the Symbiodinium-cnidarian symbioses is still limited, even though studies employing carbon isotopes have made us aware of the metabolic complexity of this exchange. We examined glycerol and glucose metabolism to better understand how photosynthates are exchanged between host and symbiont. The levels of these metabolites were compared between symbiotic and bleached Exaiptasia pallida anemones, assaying enzymes directly involved in their metabolism. We measured a significant decrease of glucose levels in bleached animals but a significant increase in glycerol and G3P pools, suggesting that bleached animals degrade lipids to compensate for the loss of symbionts and seem to rely on symbiotic glucose. The lower glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase but higher glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase specific activities measured in bleached animals agree with a metabolic deficit mainly due to the loss of glucose from the ruptured symbiosis. These results corroborate previous observations on carbon translocation from symbiont to host in the sea anemone Exaiptasia, where glucose was proposed as a main translocated metabolite. To better understand photosynthate translocation and its regulation, additional research with other symbiotic cnidarians is needed, in particular, those with calcium carbonate skeletons.

Responses of the sea anemone, Exaiptasia pallida , to ocean acidification conditions and zinc or nickel exposure

2017 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 120-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina G. Duckworth ◽  
Codie R. Picariello ◽  
Rachel K. Thomason ◽  
Krina S. Patel ◽  
Gretchen K. Bielmyer-Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Nickel Exposure ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida

scholarly journals Quantification of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production in the sea anemone <i>Aiptasia</i> sp. to simulate the sea-to-air flux from coral reefs

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Franchini ◽  
Michael Steinke
Keyword(s):  
Gas Chromatography ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Standard Error ◽  
Dimethyl Sulfide ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Reef Environments ◽  
Tropical Reef

Abstract. The production of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is poorly quantified in tropical reef environments but forms an essential process that couples marine and terrestrial sulfur cycles and affects climate. Here we used gas chromatography to quantify net DMS production and the concentration of its cellular precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in the sea anemone Aiptasia sp., a model organism to study coral-related processes. Bleached anemones did not show net DMS production whereas symbiotic anemones produced DMS concentrations (mean ± standard error) of 160.7 ± 44.22 nmol g−1 dry weight (DW) after 48 h incubation. Symbiotic and bleached individuals showed DMSP concentrations of 32.7 ± 6.00 and 0.6 ± 0.19 μmol g−1 DW, respectively. We applied these findings to a Monte-Carlo simulation of DMS flux into the atmosphere and demonstrate that net aqueous DMS production accounts for only 0.5–2.0 % of gross aqueous DMS production, and that reefs may release up to 15 μmol DMS m−2 coral surface area d−1 into the atmosphere with 40 % probability for rates between 0.5 and 1.5 μmol m

scholarly journals Worldwide exploration of the microbiome harbored by the cnidarian model, Exaiptasia pallida indicates a lack of bacterial association specificity at a lower taxonomic rank

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Brown ◽  
Christopher Otero ◽  
Alejandro Grajales ◽  
Estefania Rodriguez ◽  
Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Microbial Community ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Sea Anemone ◽  
Microbial Consortia ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Core Microbiome ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Exaiptasia Pallida

Examination of host-microbe interactions in basal metazoans, such as cnidarians is of great interest from an evolutionary perspective to understand how host-microbial consortia have evolved. To address this problem, we analyzed whether the bacterial community associated with the cosmopolitan and model sea anemone Exaiptasia pallida shows specific patterns across worldwide populations ranging from the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. By comparing sequences of the V1-V4 hypervariable regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, we revealed that anemones host a complex and diverse microbial community. When examined at the phylum level, bacterial diversity and abundance associated with E. pallida are broadly conserved across geographic space with samples, containing largely Proteobacteria and Bacteroides. However, the species-level makeup within these phyla differs drastically across space suggesting a high-level core microbiome with local adaptation of the constituents. Indeed, no bacterial OTU was ubiquitously found in all anemones samples. We also revealed changes in the microbial community structure after rearing anemone specimens in captivity within a period of four months. These results contrast with the postulation that cnidarian hosts might actively select and maintain species-specific microbial communities that could have resulted from an intimate co-evolution process. Instead, our findings suggest that environmental settings, not host specificity seem to dictate bacterial community structure associated with this sea anemone. More than maintaining a specific composition of bacterial species some cnidarians associate with a wide range of bacterial species as long as they provide the same physiological benefits towards the maintenance of a healthy host. The examination of the previously uncharacterized bacterial community associated with the cnidarian sea anemone model E. pallida is the first global-scale study of its kind.

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