Researchers Use Live Imaging to Observe How Sea Anemones ‘Exercise’ in Developing Sizes

Researchers used multidisciplinary methodologies to demonstrate how 'exercising' sea anemones modifies their growing size and form, revealing an intimate link between activity and body development.

The diverse team of experts translated 2D and 3D live images into quantitative characteristics to follow changes in the body, using expertise in live imaging, computational technique, biophysics, and genetics.

They discovered that growing sea anemones function like hydraulic pumps, with muscle action and hydraulics molding the larval tissue.

To explore deeper and quicker, the researchers created a bespoke 3D microscope capable of capturing real, fast-moving growing sea anemone larvae such as this one.

Sea anemone 'exercise'

(Photo : ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images)

The Ikmi group at EMBL applied these ideas to the sea anemone in order to better understand how behavior influences body form throughout early growth, as per ScienceDaily.

It turns out that sea anemones benefit from being active while they evolve from ovoid-shaped swimming larvae to sedentary, tubular adults.

This morphological shift is a critical step in the life histories of many cnidarian species, including the immortal jellyfish and coral reef builders, who construct our planet's richest and most complex ecosystems.

Starlet sea anemone larvae (Nematostella) conduct a particular sequence of gymnastic motions throughout development.

Too much or too little muscular activity, or a significant change in muscle arrangement, might cause the sea anemone to depart from its regular form.

The Ikmi group investigates how this type of behavior affects animal development in recent research published in Current Biology.

The diverse team of experts translated 2D and 3D live images into quantitative characteristics to follow changes in the body, using expertise in live imaging, computational technique, biophysics, and genetics.

They discovered that growing sea anemones work like hydraulic pumps, controlling body pressure through muscle activity and sculpting larval tissue with hydraulics.

To exercise, humans utilize a skeleton made up of muscles and bones. Sea anemones, on the other hand, have a hydroskeleton consisting of muscles and a hollow filled with water, according to Aissam Ikmi, group leader at EMBL. The same hydraulic muscles that enable budding sea anemones move to appear to have an effect on how they develop.

Read more: How this Deadly Sea Anemone May Help Create New Life-Saving Drug

Creating microscopes and balloons

This research presented several hurdles, according to the first author and former EMBL predoc Anniek Stokkermans, who is currently a postdoc at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands, as per News Wise.

This animal is quite active. Most microscopes are unable to record at a high enough rate to keep up with the animal's movements, resulting in fuzzy pictures, especially when seen in 3D.

Furthermore, because the animal is so dense, most microscopes cannot even see halfway through it.

Ling Wang, an application engineer in the Prevedel group at EMBL, constructed a microscope to catch real, growing sea anemone larvae in 3D during their natural behavior in order to explore deeper and quicker.

Ling has particularly customized one of our fundamental technologies, Optical Coherence Microscopy, or OCM, for this purpose.

The main advantage of OCM is that it allows the creatures to move freely under the microscope while still offering a clear, detailed, and 3D view within. EMBL group head Robert Prevedel stated.

It's been an intriguing endeavor that demonstrates the numerous linkages across EMBL groups and disciplines.

The researchers were able to estimate volumetric changes in tissue and bodily cavities using this specific technology.

Stokkermans said that sea anemones expand like a balloon to grow in size by sucking in water from their surroundings.

Related article: Genetic Link Found Between the Development of Humans and Sea Anemones