{"id":72065,"date":"2024-11-29T17:03:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T16:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=72065"},"modified":"2025-01-08T11:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T10:41:08","slug":"sea-anemone-study-shows-how-animals-stay-in-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/sea-anemone-study-shows-how-animals-stay-in-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea anemone study shows how animals stay \u2018in shape\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n

\n Summary <\/h3>\n

    \r\n \t
  • Some animals, such as the starlet sea anemone, can regenerate large parts of their body, even after major injuries.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  • EMBL researchers have shown this regeneration response involves cells and molecules in body parts far from the injury site and is directed towards restoring the animal\u2019s original shape.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  • The study sheds new light on the fundamental importance of maintaining body shape in animals and enhances our understanding of the molecular pathways involved in regeneration.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n\n

    Our bodies are remarkably skilled at adapting to changing environments. For example, whether amid summer heat or a winter freeze, our internal temperature remains steady at 37\u00b0C, thanks to a process called homeostasis. This hidden balancing act is vital for survival, enabling animals to maintain stable internal conditions even as the external world shifts. But recent research from the Ikmi Group at EMBL Heidelberg shows that homeostasis can extend beyond internal regulation and actively redefine an organism\u2019s shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis<\/em>) possesses remarkable regenerative abilities. Cut off its head or foot, and it simply grows a new one. Slice it in half, and each piece becomes a complete, fully functional anemone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While some regenerating animals like salamanders and fish focus on restoring lost parts in proportion to what remains, this sea anemone takes a different approach. It reshapes its entire body to maintain the same overall form, even if that means adjusting parts that weren\u2019t injured. This feature is also seen in flatworms and other animals with whole-body regenerative capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cRegeneration is about restoring function after tissue loss or damage,\u201d explained Aissam Ikmi, EMBL Group Leader and senior author of a new study in the journal Developmental Cell<\/em>. \u201cMost research studies mainly consider patterns and sizes in regeneration, but our findings show that maintaining shape is also crucial \u2013 and it\u2019s something the organism actively controls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The discovery began when Stephanie Cheung, a doctoral researcher in Ikmi\u2019s group, noticed something unusual. When a sea anemone\u2019s foot was injured, Cheung observed not only cell division at the wound site but also unexpected cell division at the opposite end of the body \u2013 the mouth area. This suggested the anemone was sending signals across its entire body in response to the injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To investigate this, the research team used a technique called spatial transcriptomics combined with advanced imaging. This allowed them to see which genes were active in different parts of the anemone\u2019s body during regeneration. What they found was surprising: the injury triggered molecular changes both near and far from the wound. Cells moved and tissues reorganised, effectively reshaping the entire body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Interestingly, the extent of the body reshaping depended on the injury\u2019s severity. Losing a foot caused mild changes, while the anemone being cut in half led to significant remodelling. The team identified a family of enzymes called metalloproteases that became more active as more tissue was lost. These enzymes weren\u2019t just working at the wound site; they were active throughout the body, helping to realign tissues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cMetalloprotease activity has never been shown before in animals like this,\u201d said Petrus Steenbergen, one of the study\u2019s lead authors and an Ikmi Group Senior Research Technician. \u201cI had to design and optimise experimental conditions for Nematostella<\/em> based on the sparse literature available from other species. This took some time, but the final results were very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The breakthrough came when the researchers realised that all these changes aimed to restore the anemone\u2019s original shape. By measuring the aspect ratio \u2013 the ratio of length to width \u2013 they found that the anemone returned to its pre-injury proportions. So, even if the anemone became smaller after an injury, it maintained the same shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe were able to witness the body-wide coordination that drives this remodelling,\u201d Ikmi explained. \u201cThis proportional response allows the anemone to restore its shape, highlighting how organisms like Nematostella<\/em> interpret and respond to tissue loss in a way that\u2019s scaled to the damage incurred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This research was a collaborative effort. Rik Korswagen\u2019s team at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands helped implement spatial transcriptomics in the sea anemone. Oliver Stegle\u2019s team at EMBL Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) contributed bioinformatics expertise and the statistical methods needed to deal with the spatial gene expression data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIt was a pleasure to puzzle out the findings of the study together by uniting the team\u2019s expertise in data analysis and cell biology,\u201d said Tobias Gerber, another of the study\u2019s lead authors. \u201cThis work was a truly collaborative journey, and I am glad I was part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Looking ahead, Ikmi and his team are excited to explore new questions. \u201cThe next big question is why maintaining shape is so important,\u201d Ikmi said. \u201cAnd how does the organism sense its own shape? How does it know what it currently looks like?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With the remarkable starlet sea anemone as their model, they\u2019re eager to uncover more secrets about how organisms heal and maintain balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Scientists have shown how regenerating sea anemones restore their shape following a major injury, uncovering novel cellular and molecular mechanisms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":72067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17591],"tags":[417,183,43,1726,19425,4750,760,470],"embl_taxonomy":[19165,9796,19301,19381],"class_list":["post-72065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-arendt","tag-gene-expression","tag-heidelberg","tag-ikmi","tag-regeneration","tag-sea-anemone","tag-shape-formation","tag-stegle","embl_taxonomy-arendt-group","embl_taxonomy-embl-heidelberg","embl_taxonomy-ikmi-group","embl_taxonomy-stegle-group"],"acf":{"vf_locked":false,"vfwp-news_embl_taxonomy":[19301,9796,19165,19381],"featured":true,"show_featured_image":false,"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"article_intro":"

    Scientists have shown how regenerating sea anemones restore their shape following a major injury<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Ikmi Group\r\n","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/groups\/ikmi\/"},{"link_description":"Developmental Biology Unit\r\n","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/research\/units\/developmental-biology\/"},{"link_description":"Does exercise drive development? In the sea anemone, the way you move matters\r\n","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/sea-anemones-and-exercise\/"},{"link_description":"Eat more to grow more arms\u2026if you\u2019re a sea anemone","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/tentacle-development\/"}],"source_article":[{"publication_title":"Systemic coordination of whole-body tissue remodeling in sea anemone local regeneration","publication_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/developmental-cell\/fulltext\/S1534-5807(24)00666-X","target":""},"publication_authors":"Cheung S., Bredikhin D., Gerber T., Steenbergen P., Basu S., et al. ","publication_source":"Developmental Cell","publication_date":"29 November 2024","publication_doi":"10.1016\/j.devcel.2024.11.001"}],"in_this_article":false,"press_contact":"EMBL Generic","article_translations":false,"languages":""},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"6a2f2be6-8bb7-4425-b318-5ed992f715cc\";i:2;s:36:\"47cb5a4f-aac5-44fa-af90-74e3791ed5b4\";}","parents":[],"name":["Arendt Group "],"slug":"arendt-group","description":"What > Developmental Biology > Arendt Group"},{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"b14d3f13-5670-44fb-8970-e54dfd9c921a\";i:1;s:36:\"89e00fee-87f4-482e-a801-4c3548bb6a58\";i:2;s:36:\"ab46b6d4-71d8-49f8-b2f4-b326d4c8ea4e\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL Heidelberg"],"slug":"embl-heidelberg","description":"Where > All EMBL sites > EMBL 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