Project description:In the seabed, chemical defences mediate inter- and intraspecific interactions and may determine organisms’ success, shaping the diversity and function of benthic communities. Sponges represent a prominent example of chemically-defended marine organisms with great ecological success. The ecological factors controlling the production of their defensive compounds and the evolutionary forces that select for these defences remain little understood. Each sponge species produces a specific and diverse chemical arsenal with fish-deterrent, antifouling and antimicrobial properties. However, some small animals (mesograzers), mainly sea slugs, have specialized in living and feeding on sponges. Feeding on chemically-defended organisms provides a strategy to avoid predators, albeit the poor nutritional value of sponges. In order to investigate the mechanisms that control sponge chemical defence, with particular focus on the response to specialist grazers, we investigated the interaction between the sponge Aplysina aerophoba and the sea slug Tylodina perversa. Here we performed controlled experiments and collected sponge samples at different time points (3h, 1d and 6d after treatment). To further elucidate if the sponge response is specific to grazing by T. perversa, we also included a treatment in which sponges were mechanically damaged with a scalpel. We compared gene expression between treatments based on RNA-Seq data.
Project description:The interaction of animals with microbes relies on the specific recognition of microbial-derived molecules by receptors of the immune system. Sponges (phylum Porifera), as sister group of the Eumetazoa, provide insights into conserved mechanisms for animal-microbe crosstalk, but empirical data is limited. Here we aimed to characterize the immune response of sponges upon microbial stimuli by RNA-Seq. Two sponges species from the Mediterranean Sea, Aplysina aerophoba and Dysidea avara, were challenged with microbial-associated molecular patterns (lipopolysaccharide and peptidoglycan) or sterile artificial seawater (control) in aquarium experiments. Sponge tissue samples were collected 1h, 3h, and 5h after treatment. The response of the sponges to the treatments was assessed by differential gene expression analysis of RNA-Seq data. For each species, we compared the transcriptomic profiles of the samples in MAMP treatment to control within each time point.
Project description:We utilized the eyeless sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, to quantify gene expression differences between different colors of light (red, green, blue) and in constant darkness through comparisons of 96 transcriptomes
