🌟 Nematostella vectensis (starlet sea anemone) 🪼 A cnidarian model with deep evolutionary insights! 🧬 Nematostella reveals how germ layers and body axes evolved and can even regenerate its body after injury 🔁
📸 Image by Océane Tournière #ModelMonday #DevBio #EvoDevo #Nematostella

Aquatic models including but not limited to:
#Zebrafish #Gar #Killifish #Medaka #Stickleback #Xiphophorus #Lamprey #Xenopus #Cephalopod #Squid #Hydra #Nematostella #Tunicate #SeaUrchin #Planarian #Ctenophore #Ciona #Echinoderm #Aiptasia #Coral

In marine invertebrates 💙, test for DNA incorporation of EU!
#Nematostella ⚠️ EU in RNA+DNA
#Aiptasia ⚠️ EU in DNA
#Ctenophores ✅ EU only in RNA
@ruthstyfhals.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
#Platynereis ⚠️ EU in RNA+DNA
@leonieadelmann.bsky.social @tessmarraiblelabs.bsky.social

dsRNA injection to N. vectensis zygotes triggers mild and transient gene knockdown. Top: Schematic representation of the dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence used in this study and of the transgene of the actin::eGFP line [40]. Bottom left: Heterozygous actin::eGFP embryos showing dimmer eGFP fluorescence 24 hpi of dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence (left) compared to scrambled eGFP sequence (right). Scale bars represent 500 µm. Bottom right: No difference in eGFP fluorescence of heterozygous actin::eGFP embryos is exhibited 72 hpi of dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence (left) compared to scrambled eGFP sequence (right). Scale bars represent 500 µm.

#RNAi is an ancestral #antiviral system that degrades viral RNA, but what about in #cnidarians? @yehumoran.bsky.social &co show that #Nematostella has an siRNA-mediated antiviral response that lacks 2ary amplification & functions as a short-term antiviral mechanism @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3N192OD

dsRNA injection to N. vectensis zygotes triggers mild and transient gene knockdown. Top: Schematic representation of the dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence used in this study and of the transgene of the actin::eGFP line [40]. Bottom left: Heterozygous actin::eGFP embryos showing dimmer eGFP fluorescence 24 hpi of dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence (left) compared to scrambled eGFP sequence (right). Scale bars represent 500 µm. Bottom right: No difference in eGFP fluorescence of heterozygous actin::eGFP embryos is exhibited 72 hpi of dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence (left) compared to scrambled eGFP sequence (right). Scale bars represent 500 µm.

#RNAi is an ancestral #antiviral system that degrades viral RNA, but what about in #cnidarians? @yehumoran.bsky.social &co show that #Nematostella has an siRNA-mediated antiviral response that lacks 2ary amplification & functions as a short-term antiviral mechanism @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3N192OD

dsRNA injection to N. vectensis zygotes triggers mild and transient gene knockdown. Top: Schematic representation of the dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence used in this study and of the transgene of the actin::eGFP line [40]. Bottom left: Heterozygous actin::eGFP embryos showing dimmer eGFP fluorescence 24 hpi of dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence (left) compared to scrambled eGFP sequence (right). Scale bars represent 500 µm. Bottom right: No difference in eGFP fluorescence of heterozygous actin::eGFP embryos is exhibited 72 hpi of dsRNA carrying eGFP sequence (left) compared to scrambled eGFP sequence (right). Scale bars represent 500 µm.

#RNAi is an ancestral #antiviral system that degrades viral RNA, but what about in #cnidarians? @yehumoran.bsky.social &co show that #Nematostella has an siRNA-mediated antiviral response that lacks 2ary amplification & functions as a short-term antiviral mechanism @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3N192OD

Characterization of RNA interference in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis reveals partial target silencing but lack of small RNA amplification RNA interference is an ancestral antiviral mechanism that degrades viral RNA through siRNAs, but its role in cnidarians has been unclear. This study shows that Nematostella vectensis likely possesses ...

1/3 🚨New paper from our lab!🔥
Most textbooks will tell you that invertebrates employ #RNAi as antiviral mechanism. Yet, do 🪸🪼 actually do it? Well, the answer is complicated. We show that in #Nematostella dsRNA induces RNAi 🧵
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Prolonged starvation deepens quiescence in Vasa2/Piwi1-expressing cells of a sea anemone Animals with lifelong growth modulate cell proliferation in response to nutrient availability, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. This study shows that starvation induces a revers...

💡How does nutrition regulate cell cycle in stem cells? Check out our new paper from @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social lab & @msarscentre.bsky.social, out now in
@plosbiology.org (plos.io/48J2o6P)
#SeaAnemone #Nematostella #StemCell #CellCycle #Quiescence #TORsignalling 1/12

Ceramics plate in hues of blue with different organisms as the pattern.

New platter with all kinds of inverts! #sciart #ceramics #handbuilding #pottery #larvae #annelids #seaurchin #octopus #embryo #cnidarians #nematostella #veliger #snail #ascidians #nudibranchs

a woman is holding a newspaper and says that 's wild netflix ALT: a woman is holding a newspaper and says that 's wild netflix

3/5 we present transcriptomic and functional data from unprecedented number of #Nematostella mutant lines, and "rewildering" experiments where we expose the mutants to native conditions and water full with viruses from the blackish lagoons where Nematostella comes from!

Epigenomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal cnidocyte specialization in a sea anemone Cnidarians, including corals, hydras, jellyfish, and sea anemones, possess specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes that function in prey capture and defense. These cells represent a striking evol...

1/3 🔥🚨 We have a new @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social #preprint from our lab! Itamar Kozlovski, an excellent PhD student, established CUT&TAG in #Nematostella. He used this technique to map the transcriptional activation mark H3K27ac in two stinging cell populations
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Kick-off of the late afternoon session at the #DevStem2025 meeting. Sanjay Narayanaswamy @sanjay-n.bsky.social from @ulrichtechnau.bsky.social lab discusses germ layer biology in #Nematostella, exploring a powerful gastruloid system. For a primer on gastruloids, see doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

Had an amazing time presenting some of our work with #Nematostella at the #gastruloids meeting in beautiful Barcelona. Lots of science and cool breeze!

Schematic summary of Vasa+/Piwi+ cells deepining in quiescence when starved longer.

Thrilled to share our new prepreprint on the nutritional control of #Nematostella Vasa+/Piwi+ cells. Prolonged starvation delays Tor activation & cell cycle re-entry indicating quiescence deepening! tinyurl.com/2k9azd4y
@eudaldpascual.bsky.social @ktgarschall.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Optimized husbandry and targeted gene-editing for the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis Summary: Optimized life cycle, in combination with efficient gene-editing approaches, facilitates the establishment of genetic tools in N. vectensis, an emerging model for environmental stress respons...

The second paper from the team, by @joao-e-carvalho.bsky.social, that was accepted by the end of last year @biologists.bsky.social is now online. In collab with @planktovie, we show how to close the #Nematostella lifecycle in 2mo and optimize gene editing

journals.biologists.com/dev/article-...

1/4 🚨 a brand new @biorxiv preprint from the lab! We charcterized both transcriptionally, morphologically and functionally (phagocytosis) immune cells from #Nematostella! We are convinced that our data supports the existence of such specialized cells! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵

Great to ses that study out in MBE. This is the result of an effective collaboration with @stemdevevo.bsky.social. Aurore Vullien (joint PhD student) et al has studied the evolution and role of ROS in metazoan regeneration using #nematostella and #platynereis. Congrats to all. Highlights below.

Spawning female Sea Anemone Nematostella vectensis

A last dance (spawn) for me..and they don't let me down.😍 #Nematostella #Cnidarian #SaturdayInTheLab

Heat stress drives rapid viral and antiviral innate immunity activation in Hexacorallia The cnidarian class Hexacorallia, encompassing stony corals and sea anemones, plays a critical role in marine ecosystems. Coral bleaching, the disruption of the symbiosis between stony corals and zoox...

1/3 I am very excited to tell you about our latest work where we looked not only into sea anemones but also 🪸
We find in #Nematostella that stress induces not immunity, but also viral replication, actually much faster than the immune response! 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Happy Nematostella 😍
#Cnidaria #Nematostella #Embryo

Feeding time! Nematostella vectensis (and all cnidarian) tentacles are covered in stinging cells called cnidocytes that harpoon and inject venom into their prey, in this case a drop of juvenile brine shrimp.

#nematostella #seaanemone #cnidocyte #cnidaria #marinebiology

Congrats to Starla and Malin presenting on two projects on Nematostella in the lab at the UMN undergraduate research symposium! #nematostella #undergradresearch #marinebiology #visualecology #animalbehavior #opsins

Larval swimming in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis is sensitive to a broad light spectrum and exhibits a wavelength‐dependent behavioral switch Ecology & Evolution is a broad open access journal welcoming research in ecology, evolution, and conservation science, and providing a forum for evidence-based views.

A lovely undergrad-led study is now out from our lab on wavelength-dependent swimming behavior in sea anemone larvae! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#seaanemone #marinelarvae #light #marinebiology #undergradresearch #visualecology #cnidaria #nematostella

Congrats to Aurore joint PhD student in our lab and @RottingerL who win the poster prize at #EMBOregeneration22 ! #platynereis #nematostella

Time for #nematostella from @RottingerL