Genetically tractable embryonic cell lines from sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.

ABSTRACT: Sea urchins have been valuable research models for over a century, advancing our understanding of fundamental biological processes like cell cycle regulation and developmental gene regulatory networks. While an increasing number of functional genomic resources are being developed for sea urchins, in vitro cell culture tools and methods for scalable transgenesis have remained elusive. Here, we successfully established embryonic cell lines from sea urchins (Lytechinus variegatus and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) which recapitulated aspects of the developmental program in vitro, generating 3D structures and diverse cell types representing all three germ layers. Single-cell transcriptomics revealed signatures of naive stem-like cells and distinct cell clusters expressing markers of neurons, m

SUBMITTER: Castellano KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12521550 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature