Tree of Life

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The Cindarian Tree of Life Project
Welcome

Cnidaria AToL (CnidTol) is a five-year, collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation under the "Assembling the Tree of Life" program. The overall goal of CnidToL is to significantly enhance our understanding of evolution in the Phylum Cnidaria. The CnidToL project will use an integrative, multi-level approach to investigating cnidarian evolution. The CnidToL team is comprised of PIs, co-PIs and contractors from eleven laboratories at nine institutions and also includes multiple international and U.S. collaborators within the cnidarian scientific community. Through a collaborative effort, we will generate extensive molecular and morphological datasets that will be used to reconstruct phylogenetic hypothesis of cnidarian relationships. Molecular data will include mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S ribosomal DNA plus nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA; we anticipate a total of 10+ molecular markers. One aspect of morphology that will be examined in detail is the diversity of nematocysts (stinging cells); in turn the utility of these anatomical data for phylogenetic analyses will be evaluated. In addition, we will develop laboratory culture conditions for several different cnidarian species representing a broad phylogenetic sampling in an effort to develop new model organisms amenable for future in-depth developmental, life-history, and morphological studies. (See the CnidToL homepage)

Training and outreach are important components of the CnidToL project. An online database will include a catalogue of species, bibliography of literature in which they were described, inventory of type specimens, distribution maps, and images (see cnidarian.info). In addition, all of the molecular and morphological datasets generated from this project will be included in the CnidToL database. Undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral training and outreach to K-12 educators will also be a prominent component to this project.


Overview

Over the next 5 years, we aim to gather large amounts of DNA sequence data accompanied by voucher specimens to assemble as robust a phylogeny of the scyphomedusae (coronates, rhizostomes, semaeostomes) as possible, including understanding the evolution of scyphozoans relative to cubomedusae, hydromedusae, and stauromedusae. Important goals of the project are to establish collaborations that will (1) support new international projects, (2) enable the diverse taxonomic sampling essential to success of the project, and (3) develop the robust global community essential for continuing rapid progress during and after the project.

The following text provides information on the logistics of collaborating on, or contributing to, the project. It is intended as a general guide that should be sufficiently flexible to fit a variety of circumstances. If you have questions or suggestions specific to your circumstances, please write to Mike Dawson mdawson@ucmerced.edu. Our goal is to foster long-term, fruitful, mutually beneficial research partnerships.

Collecting

If medusae are large, a small subsample of tissue (one or a few pieces, total ~10-50 cubic mm volume) can be biopsied from the specimen, then placed in a vial with excess (1 ml) 95% ethanol. The remainder of the specimen should then be placed in excess 4% formalin in ambient salinity water (i.e. seawater if it is a marine species, estuary water if it is an estuarine species).

If medusae are small, samples for DNA and morphological analyses can be taken from different individuals if you can be absolutely sure that the different individuals are the same species. Again, samples for DNA analyses should be placed in a vial with excess (1 ml) 95% ethanol; samples for morphological analysis should be placed in excess 4% formalin in ambient salinity water.

Ideally, several medusae of a range of sizes should be sampled for DNA and morphological analyses. If only one large specimen is found, it can be treated as noted above. If only one small specimen is found, it would be best if roughly one quarter of the animal (not including the mouth) is cut away and placed in 95% ethanol, with the rest placed in 4% formalin.

Please individually label each specimen with an unique identifier and include information on collection locality, GPS coordinates if available, date of collection, your name.

A small sample kit with all materials necessary for DNA preservation can be sent to you free of charge.

If possible, please take photographs of the medusae in the water and/or in tanks; photograph the whole medusae, and when possible also the fine structure of the bell, tentacles, and oral arms.

Additional instructions for sampling and photographing medusae.

Contact

If you are interested in more information or want to discuss potential collaborations and/or contributions to the project, please contact the most relevant point-person listed below. A general description of the framework for collaborations on medusozoans follows the list of cnidarian personnel.

Actiniarians and nematocysts: Meg Daly, daly.66@osu.edu

Culturing new model organisms: Neil Blackstone, neilb@niu.edu

Data analyses: Dan Janies, janies-1@medctr.osu.edu

Database development: Daphne Fautin, fautin@ku.edu

Hydra: Daniel Mart’nez, dmartinez@pomona.edu

Hydrozoans: Paulyn Cartwright, pcart@ku.edu

Hexacorals: Sandra Romano, sromano@uvi.edu

Medusozoans: Allen Collins, CollinsA@si.edu

Molecular marker development: Cliff Cunningham, cliff@duke.edu; Bernie Ball, bernie.ball@duke.edu

Octocorals:

Scyphozoans: Mike Dawson, mdawson@ucmerced.edu