[Coral-List] “The jellyfish Cassiopea - a model organism?” ICRS 2020 Theme 4, accepting talks!

[William K Fitt]

The upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) is an emerging model system to study cnidarian-algal-microbial symbiosis. A growing Cassiopea scientific community is not only addressing symbiosis-related questions using a broad range of approaches from molecular to the organismal level, but are utilizing the system for behavioral, ecological, and environmental inquiries. The life cycle of the jellyfish is now well established in multiple laboratories around the world, the genome has been sequenced and genetic tools are in development. Knowledge of the biology of microbial partners (e.g. settlement-inducing bacteria, strobilation-inducing Symbiodinacea) that interact with this animal host is also increasing, again with genomic and genetic manipulation also in the horizon. The enhanced experimental potential, broad application outside of cnidarian biology, and relative low cost implementation of this system, deserve a venue at the ISRS meeting such that laboratories, especially in developing nations, can learn and take advantage of the research possibilities Cassiopea provides to study topics such as environmental monitoring, ecoloigcal interactions, evolutionary development, evolution of behavior, and as a proxy to study onset and breakdown (e.g. bleaching) of coral-algal symbiosis.
Bill Fitt, Monica Medina, Aki Ohdera, Dietrich Hofmann