Meeting Abstract
The estuarine sea anemone Nematostella vectensis has emerged as a model organism to study the dynamic interactions between cell specific venom composition, development specific venom composition, and the impact of varied toxins on their biological targets. Within nearshore dynamic estuarine mud flats and temporary pools N. vectensis are apex predators feeding on a variety of invertebrate and potentially vertebrate prey as adults, however, their position as apex predators is a drastic shift from when they had to use their venom to defend themselves against predators as mobile planulae larvae. The complexity of these interactions may be further influenced by abiotic factors the predators encounter in these different environments as it relates to their geographical location. Here we report the differential gene expression patterns of N. vectensis when subjected to stressful environmental conditions and evaluate the potential role regional adaptations have on changes in venom gene expression. Additionally, we evaluate venom composition with a fine scale analysis using targeted MiSeq analysis of their key toxin protein and contrast this diversity with potential prey abundance using COI DNA barcoding. These approaches are further complemented by the use of comparative transcriptomics to identify strong overall population structure which correlates with toxin gene diversity. Our combined multi-omic analyses further highlights the usefulness of N. vectensis to address evolutionary and ecological questions as it relates to dynamic interactions between this complex venomous animal and its varied environment.
