Nematostella Explained

Nematostella is a genus of sea anemones in the family Edwardsiidae. Of the three species in the genus, the best known is the starlet sea anemone (N. vectensis), which has been extensively studied as a model organism in fields such as genetics, evolution, and ecology.^[1] The defining morphological apomorphy of Nematostella is the presence of nematosomes. Nematostella are able to reproduce asexually and regenerate from small fragments due to their simple body structure,^[2] pluripotent cells,^[3] specific genetic mechanisms, and evolutionary adaptations.^[4]

Species:^[5]

• Nematostella nathorstii (Carlgren, 1921)
• Nematostella polaris (Carlgren, 1921)
• Nematostella vectensis Stephenson, 1935  - starlet sea anemone

Notes and References

1. Lubinski, T., et al. StellaBase: Nematostella vectensis Genomics & Transcriptomics Database. v2.0, 2014 onwards.
2. Ambrosone . Alfredo . Tortiglione . Claudia . March 2013 . Methodological approaches for nanotoxicology using cnidarian models . Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods . en . 23 . 3 . 207–216 . 10.3109/15376516.2012.747117 . 1537-6516.
3. Chourrout . D. . Delsuc . F. . Chourrout . P. . Edvardsen . R. B. . Rentzsch . F. . Renfer . E. . Jensen . M. F. . Zhu . B. . de Jong . P. . Steele . R. E. . Technau . U. . August 2006 . Minimal ProtoHox cluster inferred from bilaterian and cnidarian Hox complements . Nature . en . 442 . 7103 . 684–687 . 10.1038/nature04863 . 0028-0836.
4. Shinzato . Chuya . Shoguchi . Eiichi . Kawashima . Takeshi . Hamada . Mayuko . Hisata . Kanako . Tanaka . Makiko . Fujie . Manabu . Fujiwara . Mayuki . Koyanagi . Ryo . Ikuta . Tetsuro . Fujiyama . Asao . Miller . David J. . Satoh . Nori . August 2011 . Using the Acropora digitifera genome to understand coral responses to environmental change . Nature . en . 476 . 7360 . 320–323 . 10.1038/nature10249 . 0028-0836. free .
5. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=100734 Nematostella Stephenson, 1935.