Production of clone polyps of the model organism Exaiptasia diaphana (Rapp, 1829)

Abstract

Background. The sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana (Order Actiniaria) is an ideal model organism to study diverse biological, physiological, and immune processes in corals (Order Scleractinia) due to its close phyletic relationship and shared traits. E. diaphana is widely distributed along the world’s tropical coastal areas. This species is easy to grow in aquariums under diverse experimental conditions since reproduces asexually and can be rendered aposymbiotic. However, there are a variety of methods to propagate them, making difficult comparisons of results. A standardized propagation protocol for E. diaphana can also contribute to improving the understanding of its biology. Goal. Determine the most rapid method of clonal production in controlled conditions. Results. In the micro-laceration treatment, 50% of the remnant tissue gave rise to a new clonal polyp, while all the amputated anemones resulted in two polyps with tentacles and a pedal disc. Amputated clonal polyps developed their tentacles from the third day, being this treatment the most rapid compared with the control group and the micro-laceration treatment. In both cases, the tentacles started to develop from the sixth day of the experiment. The control group naturally released five clonal polyps with tentacles in the ten-day experiment Conclusion. Transversal amputation was the most rapid method to obtain developed clonal polyps. We, therefore, propose transversal amputation as a standard method for the efficient artificial propagation of the clonal polyps of the model organism E. diaphana.