title: Early development and neurogenesis of Temnopleurus reevesii.
abstract: Sea urchins are model non-chordate deuterostomes, and studying the nervous system of their embryos can aid in the understanding of the universal mechanisms of neurogenesis. However, despite the long history of sea urchin embryology research, the molecular mechanisms of their neurogenesis have not been well investigated, in part because neurons appear relatively late during embryogenesis. In this study, we used the species Temnopleurus reevesii as a new sea urchin model and investigated the detail of its development and neurogenesis during early embryogenesis. We found that the embryos of T. reevesii were tolerant of high temperatures and could be cultured successfully at 15-30°C during early embryogenesis. At 30°C, the embryos developed rapidly enough that the neurons appeared at just after 24 h. This is faster than the development of other model urchins, such as Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus or Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. In addition, the body of the embryo was highly transparent, allowing the details of the neural network to be easily captured by ordinary epifluorescent and confocal microscopy without any additional treatments. Because of its rapid development and high transparency during embryogenesis, T. reevesii may be a suitable sea urchin model for studying neurogenesis. Moreover, the males and females are easily distinguishable, and the style of early cleavages is intriguingly unusual, suggesting that this sea urchin might be a good candidate for addressing not only neurology but also cell and developmental biology.
authors.affiliation: Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, 5-10-1 Shimoda, Shizuoka, 415-0025, Japan; Japanese Association for Marine Biology (JAMBIO), 5-10-1 Shimoda, Shizuoka, 415-0025, Japan.
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yaguchi
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Wakana
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shinagawa
authors.forename: Yutaro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yaguchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000196:embryology*; D013696:Temperature
keywords: serotonin; temperature tolerance