UC Merced UC Merced Previously Published Works Title Cnidofest 2018: the future is bright for cnidarian research. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5zw6g05s Journal EvoDevo, 10(1) ISSN 2041-9139 Authors He, Shuonan Grasis, Juris A Nicotra, Matthew L et al. Publication Date 2019 DOI 10.1186/s13227-019-0134-5 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California He et al. EvoDevo (2019) 10:20 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13227-019-0134-5 EvoDevo MEETING REPORT Open Access Cnidofest 2018: the future is bright for cnidarian research Shuonan He1, Juris A. Grasis2, Matthew L. Nicotra3,4,5, Celina E. Juliano6 and Christine E. Schnitzler7,8* Abstract The 2018 Cnidarian Model Systems Meeting (Cnidofest) was held September 6–9th at the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience in St. Augustine, FL. Cnidofest 2018, which built upon the momentum of Hydroidfest 2016, brought together research communities working on a broad spectrum of cnidarian organisms from North America and around the world. Meeting talks covered diverse aspects of cnidarian biology, with sessions focused on genomics, development, neurobiology, immunology, symbiosis, ecology, and evolution. In addition to interesting biology, Cnidofest also emphasized the advancement of modern research techniques. Invited technology speakers showcased the power of microfuidics and single-cell transcriptomics and demonstrated their application in cnidarian models. In this report, we provide an overview of the exciting research that was presented at the meeting and discuss opportunities for future research. Keywords: Cnidarians, Hydra, Hydractinia, Nematostella, Aiptasia, Cassiopeia Introduction use of many diferent cnidarians to address a myriad of Cnidaria (corals, jellyfsh, sea anemones, and hydroids) biological questions. is a phylum of aquatic animals, unifed by the presence Cnidofest 2018 (http://www.cnida rianm odelm eetin of specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes [1]. Tese g.org) was organized to foster the expansion of the beautiful and exotic creatures have fascinated biologists cnidarian research community and emphasize the since the dawn of experimental biology [2, 3]. Teir phy- application of modern molecular tools to both clas- logenic position as the sister group to Bilateria makes sic and emerging cnidarian models. As a successor to them key to addressing long-standing questions regard- the Hydroidfest 2016 meeting [18], which emphasized ing animal relationships and evolution [4–7]. Until hydrozoan research, Cnidofest 2018 widened its focus to recently, cnidarian research has been hindered by the lack include representatives from many cnidarian taxa. Two of advanced molecular and genetic approaches. How- established model organisms, Hydra and Nematostella, ever, rapidly advancing technologies, including genome appeared in approximately 60% of the abstracts. How- sequencing and gene-editing tools, are now being applied ever, the overall meeting agenda was diverse, with 11 to many cnidarian species. Large collections of genomic cnidarian species featured during 44 oral presentation and transcriptomic data of diverse cnidarian species have sessions and a total of 22 species represented by the 85 now been generated [8–12] and single-cell sequencing submitted abstracts. Nearly all major cnidarian clades technologies are deepening our understanding of cnidar- were represented (Fig. 1), including traditionally under- ian development and evolution [13, 14]. Tese data, in represented groups, such as Cubozoa, Staurozoa, and combination with new gene-editing capabilities [15–17], Myxozoa. Newly sequenced genomes and transcriptomes are opening new experimental avenues and enabling the are giving these lesser known, yet fascinating animals a signifcant boost. A major goal of the Cnidofest 2018 meeting was to *Correspondence: [email protected] 7 Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. contribute to the career development of trainees in Augustine, FL 32080, USA the cnidarian research community. With funding sup- Full list of author information is available at the end of the article port from the National Science Foundation and the © The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. He et al. EvoDevo (2019) 10:20 Page 2 of 11 the future is bright. In this report, we provide an over- view of the exciting research presented at Cnidofest 2018. Keynote address: cnidarian symbionts and the fate of coral reefs Virginia Weis (Oregon State University) is an inspir- ing fgure in the cnidarian research community. For more than two decades, she has pioneered and pro- moted coral symbiosis studies using Aiptasia, which is colonized by dinofagellates from the family Symbiod- iniaceae [19], as a model organism. Work from her lab and her collaborators successfully pushed forward our understanding of host–symbiont interactions on the molecular and cellular level. As the keynote speaker of Cnidofest 2018, Weis shared with the audience high- lights covering 22 years of research done by her labo- ratory, her success in promoting and connecting the Aiptasia community, her vision of the future of symbio- sis research, and her concern over global warming and the accelerating rate of coral extinction. Weis emphasized the importance of translating fndings in basic research into valuable tools for con- servation biology. Te lectin/glycan interaction and the complement pathway were identifed as key play- ers mediating host–symbiont recognition; disruption of these pathways blocks symbiont colonization in Aiptasia larvae. Based on these discoveries, Weis and her collaborators are currently testing symbionts with Fig. 1 Cnidarian model systems represented at Cnidofest. a A chemically modifed glycans as an attempt to increase hermaphroditic green Hydra polyp bearing a testes and an egg their colonizing abilities, with the ultimate goal of (courtesy of Stefan Siebert). b Gastrozooids and gonozooids of a rescuing bleached coral populations. Meanwhile, by Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus colony (courtesy of Steven Sanders). incubating Aiptasia with high concentrations of throm- c Nematostella vectensis adult polyp (courtesy of Shuonan He). d The bospondin type 1 repeat (TSR) peptides, a key compo- banded tube-dwelling anemone, Isarachnanthus nocturnes (courtesy of Sérgio Stampar). e A Cordylophora colony growing on eelgrass nent of the complement pathway, Weis and colleagues (courtesy of Nadine Folino Rorem and E. Sally Chang). f Medusa of turned normal symbionts into ‘super colonizers’. Tese Cassiopea spp. (courtesy of Casandra Newkirk) approaches, though preliminary, may help to alleviate challenges in coral conservation. Finally, Weis laid out her vision for a community-wide efort to develop gene manipulation techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 in both University of Florida Ofce of Research, registration Aiptasia and their dinofagellate symbionts. Tanks to fees were waived for nearly all trainees and travel allow- the eforts of Weis, many well-established biologists ances were awarded to 16 domestic and 5 international such as John Pringle (Stanford) and Tomas Gilmore trainees. Tis allowed for trainees to make up nearly (Boston University) have adopted Aiptasia as a research 70% of the total attendance, and 68% of the oral pres- organism in their own labs. Meanwhile, a younger gen- entations (30/44) were given by students and postdocs. eration of Aiptasia biologists are emerging with talent Te environment provided at Cnidofest enabled stu- and dedication, highlighted by the exciting oral pres- dents and postdocs to showcase their work and interact entations and posters during this meeting. Emphasiz- directly with established researchers in this small, yet ing the need for multiple communities to unite around vibrant community. With these fantastic young scien- the complex issue of saving coral reefs, Weis stressed tists, new species, new technologies, and new ideas, the that “it takes a village to save corals…and we must take cnidarian research community is growing quickly and action before it’s too late.” He et al. EvoDevo (2019) 10:20 Page 3 of 11 Genomics: expanding genomic resources and then performed comparative analyses across four for cnidarian research Brown Hydra species and one Green Hydra species to ask Cnidarian genomes hold a key to understanding animal how the expansion of TEs increased the genome sizes of phylogenetic relationships and provide the framework Brown Hydra compared to Green Hydra [11, 24]. Wong for exploring the evolution of complex biological pro- found that one LINE family transposable element is sig- cesses from embryogenesis to aging. Te opening session nifcantly enriched in the Brown Hydra species as com- of Cnidofest 2018 included exciting advancements in pared to the Green Hydra. Wong hypothesized that this comparative genomics and the development of genome lineage-specifc LINE family TE expansion could partially engineering