1. The cellular basis of feeding-dependent body size plasticity in sea anemones.
- Author
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Garschall K, Pascual-Carreras E, García-Pascual B, Filimonova D, Guse A, Johnston IG, and Steinmetz PRH
- Subjects
- Animals, Cell Cycle physiology, Feeding Behavior physiology, Signal Transduction, Symbiosis, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases metabolism, Sea Anemones cytology, Sea Anemones physiology, Body Size, Cell Proliferation
- Abstract
Many animals share a lifelong capacity to adapt their growth rates and body sizes to changing environmental food supplies. However, the cellular and molecular basis underlying this plasticity remains only poorly understood. We therefore studied how the sea anemones Nematostella vectensis and Aiptasia (Exaiptasia pallida) respond to feeding and starvation. Combining quantifications of body size and cell numbers with mathematical modelling, we observed that growth and shrinkage rates in Nematostella are exponential, stereotypic and accompanied by dramatic changes in cell numbers. Notably, shrinkage rates, but not growth rates, are independent of body size. In the facultatively symbiotic Aiptasia, we show that growth and cell proliferation rates are dependent on the symbiotic state. On a cellular level, we found that >7% of all cells in Nematostella juveniles reversibly shift between S/G2/M and G1/G0 cell cycle phases when fed or starved, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate that polyp growth and cell proliferation are dependent on TOR signalling during feeding. Altogether, we provide a benchmark and resource for further investigating the nutritional regulation of body plasticity on multiple scales using the genetic toolkit available for Nematostella., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2024. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)
- Published
- 2024
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