Venom system variation and the division of labor in the colonial hydrozoan Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus.

ABSTRACT: Cnidarians (jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, and corals) possess a unique method for venom production, maintenance, and deployment through a decentralized system composed of different types of venom-filled stinging structures called nematocysts. In many species, nematocyst types are distributed heterogeneously across functionally distinct tissues. This has led to a prediction that different nematocyst types contain specific venom components. The colonial hydrozoan, Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, is an ideal system to study the functional distribution of nematocyst types and their venoms, given that they display a division of labor through functionally distinct polyps within the colony. Here, we characterized the composition and distribution of nematocysts (cnidome) in the differen

SUBMITTER: Klompen AML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8917316 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature