Distinct stem-like cell populations facilitate functional regeneration of the Cladonema medusa tentacle.

Blastema formation is a crucial process that provides a cellular source for regenerating tissues and organs. While bilaterians have diversified blastema formation methods, its mechanisms in non-bilaterians remain poorly understood. Cnidarian jellyfish, or medusae, represent early-branching metazoans that exhibit complex morphology and possess defined appendage structures highlighted by tentacles with stinging cells (nematocytes). Here, we investigate the mechanisms of tentacle regeneration, using the hydrozoan jellyfish Cladonema pacificum. We show that proliferative cells accumulate at the tentacle amputation site and form a blastema composed of cells with stem cell morphology. Nucleoside pulse-chase experiments indicate that most repair-specific proliferative cells (RSPCs) in the blastema are distinct from resident stem cells. We further demonstrate that resident stem cells control nematogenesis and tentacle elongation during both homeostasis and regeneration as homeostatic stem cells, while RSPCs preferentially differentiate into epithelial cells in the newly formed tentacle, analogous to lineage-restricted stem/progenitor cells observed in salamander limbs. Taken together, our findings propose a regeneration mechanism that utilizes both resident homeostatic stem cells (RHSCs) and RSPCs, which in conjunction efficiently enable functional appendage regeneration, and provide novel insight into the diversification of blastema formation across animal evolution.

siRNA-mediated gene knockdown via electroporation in hydrozoan jellyfish embryos.

As the sister group to bilaterians, cnidarians stand in a unique phylogenetic position that provides insight into evolutionary aspects of animal development, physiology, and behavior. While cnidarians are classified into two types, sessile polyps and free-swimming medusae, most studies at the cellular and molecular levels have been conducted on representative polyp-type cnidarians and have focused on establishing techniques of genetic manipulation. Recently, gene knockdown by delivery of short hairpin RNAs into eggs via electroporation has been introduced in two polyp-type cnidarians, Nematostella vectensis and Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, enabling systematic loss-of-function experiments. By contrast, current methods of genetic manipulation for most medusa-type cnidarians, or jellyfish, are quite limited, except for Clytia hemisphaerica, and reliable techniques are required to interrogate function of specific genes in different jellyfish species. Here, we present a method to knock down target genes by delivering small interfering RNA (siRNA) into fertilized eggs via electroporation, using the hydrozoan jellyfish, Clytia hemisphaerica and Cladonema paciificum. We show that siRNAs targeting endogenous GFP1 and Wnt3 in Clytia efficiently knock down gene expression and result in known planula phenotypes: loss of green fluorescence and defects in axial patterning, respectively. We also successfully knock down endogenous Wnt3 in Cladonema by siRNA electroporation, which circumvents the technical difficulty of microinjecting small eggs. Wnt3 knockdown in Cladonema causes gene expression changes in axial markers, suggesting a conserved Wnt/ß-catenin-mediated pathway that controls axial polarity during embryogenesis. Our gene-targeting siRNA electroporation method is applicable to other animals, including and beyond jellyfish species, and will facilitate the investigation and understanding of myriad aspects of animal development.

Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization and 5-Ethynyl-2'-Deoxyuridine Labeling for Stem-like Cells in the Hydrozoan Jellyfish Cladonema pacificum.

Cnidarians, including sea anemones, corals, and jellyfish, exhibit diverse morphology and lifestyles that are manifested in sessile polyps and free-swimming medusae. As exemplified in established models such as Hydra and Nematostella, stem cells and/or proliferative cells contribute to the development and regeneration of cnidarian polyps. However, the underlying cellular mechanisms in most jellyfish, particularly at the medusa stage, are largely unclear, and, thus, developing a robust method for identifying specific cell types is critical. This paper describes a protocol for visualizing stem-like proliferating cells in the hydrozoan jellyfish Cladonema pacificum. Cladonema medusae possess branched tentacles that continuously grow and maintain regenerative capacity throughout their adult stage, providing a unique platform with which to study the cellular mechanisms orchestrated by proliferating and/or stem-like cells. Whole-mount fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) using a stem cell marker allows for the detection of stem-like cells, while pulse labeling with 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), an S phase marker, enables the identification of proliferating cells. Combining both FISH and EdU labeling, we can detect actively proliferating stem-like cells on fixed animals, and this technique can be broadly applied to other animals, including non-model jellyfish species.

Regeneration Potential of Jellyfish: Cellular Mechanisms and Molecular Insights.

Medusozoans, the Cnidarian subphylum, have multiple life stages including sessile polyps and free-swimming medusae or jellyfish, which are typically bell-shaped gelatinous zooplanktons that exhibit diverse morphologies. Despite having a relatively complex body structure with well-developed muscles and nervous systems, the adult medusa stage maintains a high regenerative ability that enables organ regeneration as well as whole body reconstitution from the part of the body. This remarkable regeneration potential of jellyfish has long been acknowledged in different species; however, recent studies have begun dissecting the exact processes underpinning regeneration events. In this article, we introduce the current understanding of regeneration mechanisms in medusae, particularly focusing on cellular behaviors during regeneration such as wound healing, blastema formation by stem/progenitor cells or cell fate plasticity, and the organism-level patterning that restores radial symmetry. We also discuss putative molecular mechanisms involved in regeneration processes and introduce a variety of novel model jellyfish species in the effort to understand common principles and diverse mechanisms underlying the regeneration of complex organs and the entire body.

Cell proliferation controls body size growth, tentacle morphogenesis, and regeneration in hydrozoan jellyfish Cladonema pacificum.

Jellyfish have existed on the earth for around 600 million years and have evolved in response to environmental changes. Hydrozoan jellyfish, members of phylum Cnidaria, exist in multiple life stages, including planula larvae, vegetatively-propagating polyps, and sexually-reproducing medusae. Although free-swimming medusae display complex morphology and exhibit increase in body size and regenerative ability, their underlying cellular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we investigate the roles of cell proliferation in body-size growth, appendage morphogenesis, and regeneration using Cladonema pacificum as a hydrozoan jellyfish model. By examining the distribution of S phase cells and mitotic cells, we revealed spatially distinct proliferating cell populations in medusae, uniform cell proliferation in the umbrella, and clustered cell proliferation in tentacles. Blocking cell proliferation by hydroxyurea caused inhibition of body size growth and defects in tentacle branching, nematocyte differentiation, and regeneration. Local cell proliferation in tentacle bulbs is observed in medusae of two other hydrozoan species, Cytaeis uchidae and Rathkea octopunctata, indicating that it may be a conserved feature among hydrozoan jellyfish. Altogether, our results suggest that hydrozoan medusae possess actively proliferating cells and provide experimental evidence regarding the role of cell proliferation in body-size control, tentacle morphogenesis, and regeneration.

An algorithm for cancer nest feature extraction from pathological images.

Here, we propose an algorithm to automatically obtain extraction filters for the affected regions from cancer images. The proposed algorithm consists of two steps: extraction of affected region candidates and elimination of false positives. Useful features of cancer images, such as the area and degree of circularity of cancer nests, etc., are extracted using the derived filters. These features are useful for supporting pathological diagnosis. Automatic Construction of Tree-structural Image Transformation (ACTIT) was used to construct these filters to extract the affected regions from the image. The proposed algorithm was applied to a mouth cancer pathological image. The results confirmed that the proposed algorithm can obtain good filters capable of extracting cancer nests. The derived filters were also applied to other images from the same specimen. The results also indicated that the generated filters show general versatility in extracting cancer nest candidates. The area and degree of circularity of the cancer nets were also derived automatically.