Genetic and Genomic Tools for the Marine AnnelidPlatynereis dumerilii

Abstract

The bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii displays many interesting biological characteristics. These include its reproductive timing, which is synchronized to the moon phase, its regenerative capacity that is hormonally controlled, and a slow rate of evolution, which permits analyses of ancestral genes and cell types. As a marine annelid, Platynereis is also representative of the marine ecosystem, as well as one of the three large animal subphyla, the Lophotrochozoa. Here, we provide an overview of the molecular resources, functional techniques, and behavioral assays that have recently been established for the bristle worm. This combination of tools now places Platynereis in an excellent position to advance research at the frontiers of neurobiology, chronobiology, evo-devo, and marine biology.

Eye development and photoreceptor differentiation in the cephalopod Doryteuthis pealeii

“…The past 15 years have seen consistent growth in the molecular accessibility of lophotrochozoan systems (Henry et al, 2010;Gentile et al, 2011;Ferrier, 2012;Zantke et al, 2014; et al, 2013). Each of these systems has their strengths but the present models are relatively simple organisms.…”

Spectral Tuning of Phototaxis by a Go-Opsin in the Rhabdomeric Eyes of Platynereis

“…The Go-opsins form an ancient and poorly characterized group retained only in marine invertebrate genomes. Here, we characterize a Go-opsin from the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii [3][4][5][12][13][14][15]. We found Go-opsin1 coexpressed with two r-opsins in depolarizing rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells in the pigmented eyes of Platynereis larvae.…”

Large-Scale Combinatorial Deorphanization of Platynereis Neuropeptide GPCRs

“…The annelid Platynereis has emerged in recent years as a powerful lophotrochozoan laboratory animal for the study of development, neuronal circuits, and zooplankton behavior (Jé kely et al, 2008;Randel et al, 2014;Tosches et al, 2014;Zantke et al, 2014). Its larval stages represent accessible models for studying the role of neuropeptides in behavior, development, and physiology at the whole-organism level (Conzelmann et al, 2011(Conzelmann et al, , 2013bWilliams et al, 2015).…”