Tissue-Specific Venom Composition Shifts in Sea Anemones During Heat Stress

• Grant number: 24/23482-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: April 15, 2025
• End date: August 24, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Biological Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Sérgio Nascimento Stampar
• Grantee: Jeferson Alexis Durán Fuentes
• Supervisor: Adam Reitzel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/09430-7 - Phylogeographic, genomic and transcriptomic analyses of Actinostella flosculifera (Le Sueur, 1817) (Cnidaria; Anthozoa; Actiniaria) and a population study of the East coasts of Central and South America and West Africa, BP.DD

Abstract

Sea anemones (Cnidaria, Actiniaria) are solitary, sessile, polyp-like, and marine invertebrates that produce toxins or venom for prey capture, defense, intraspecific competition, and digestion. Due to the absence of venom glands, cnidarians produce venom in a type of cnidocyst (nematocyst), which are distributed throughout the body. The study of these toxins is of great importance for toxicological, pharmacological, and protein structure purposes. On the other hand, the current issue of rising ocean temperatures raises concerns about the potential consequences of these environmental changes on toxin expression in sea anemones. This project aims to compare the effect of heat stress on the presence of toxins in specific tissues, including the tentacles, marginal projections, and the column, in zooxanthellate (Actinostella flosculifera) and non-zooxanthellate (Anthopleura cascaia) actiniarian species commonly found on the coast of Brazil using RNA-seq. Putative toxins will be identified and compared in these three structures before and during different periods of heat stress (34-35°C), and the abundance and diversity of cnidocysts will also be compared. These data will help understand the potential consequences of rising ocean temperatures on the feeding and defense mechanisms of actiniids and find correlations with other anthozoan groups that have been studied with this type of approach.