Meeting Abstract

P3.108  Tuesday, Jan. 6  Cell Death and Division during Regeneration in the Sea Anemone Nematostella HARMON, Shane; VICK, Mike; TRITLE, Brandon; BURTON, Patrick*; Wabash College; Wabash College; Wabash College; Wabash College burtonp@wabash.edu

While embryogenesis is a universal feature of animals, many metazoans (e.g. cnidarians, echinoderms, annelids, flatworms, and select vertebrates) are also capable of producing their adult body plans via regeneration. The widespread ability of animals to undergo multiple developmental trajectories suggests that such flexibility may have played a key role in metazoan evolution. The cnidarian sea anemone Nematostella vectensis is an emerging model system capable of embryogenesis, asexual development and complete bidirectional regeneration. In order to compare the mechanisms of regeneration to other model systems, we have investigated the processes of both cell division and apoptosis during regeneration. Widespread cell division is initially observed following injury. As regeneration proceeds, cell division becomes restricted to the area surrounding the wound. Similar to cell division, apoptosis levels increase throughout the body following injury. However, unlike cell division, apoptosis does not appear to localize near the injury. These results are consistent with an epimorphic mode of regeneration in Nematostella.