Meeting Abstract

P2-104  Friday, Jan. 5 15:30 – 17:30  Box, stalked and upside-down? Draft genomes from diverse jellyfish (Cnidaria, Acraspeda) lineages: Alatina alata (Cubozoa), Calvadosia cruxmelitensis (Staurozoa), and Cassiopea xamachana (Scyphozoa) OHDERA, AH*; AMES, CL; DIKOW, RB; HERNANDEZ, AM; BUSBY, B; LA, S; PIRRO, S; MEDINA, M; COLLINS, AG; RYAN, JF; Pennsylvania State University; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Data Science Lab, Smithsonian Institution; Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida; National Center for Biotechnology Information; Simon Fraser University; Iridian Genomes, Inc.; Pennsylvania State University; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida auo140@psu.edu

The major cnidarian lineages differ dramatically in their body plan and life history strategy. Anthozoans remain sessile as adults while medusozoans generally have a pelagic stage in their life cycle: the medusa. It is currently not known how these fascinating transitions occurred during evolution. In order to understand the genomic changes underlying the diversity within Cnidaria, we sequenced, assembled, and annotated genomes from three major jellyfish groups: Cubozoa, Staurozoa, and Scyphozoa. Here we present analyses of the genomes of Alatina alata, Calvadosia cruxmelitensis, and Cassiopea xamachana. As part of these analyses, we have identified gene losses in various cnidarian groups, as well as conserved gene synteny across Cnidaria. These resources and preliminary analyses provide insight and critical resources needed to understand the evolutionary processes that have driven the extraordinary evolutionary innovations that have occurred in Medusozoa.