Anemone
Development and Regeneration
While Xenopus
has been the traditional study organism in the lab, our scope is
expanding to include studies of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.
Sea anemones belong to the phylum Cnidaria, which also includes corals,
jellyfish and hydroids (e.g. Hydra). We are interested in sea anemones
because they are an ancient group among the metazoa and are considered
“basal” to nearly all other animals except sponges and ctenophores. The
last time cnidarians and vertebrates shared a common ancestor was about
700 million years ago. Therefore, by comparing the developmental
programs of frog and sea anemone embryos we will gain new insights into
the evolution and deployment of genetic and biochemical pathways that
govern development. Furthermore, sea anemones and frogs can regenerate
missing parts, and sea anemones in particular are robust regenerators.
We have begun to study fundamental aspects of sea anemone regeneration
and will compare our findings with findings made with other regenerating
model systems, such as limbs, organs or specific cell types (including
stem cells). These comparisons will help reveal principals that
are common, as well as unique, to different regeneration situations.