ASCIDIAN NEWS*
Gretchen and Charles Lambert
206-365-3734
glambert@fullerton.edu or clambert@fullerton.edu
home page: http://depts.washington.edu/ascidian/
Number
67 December
2010
Thanks so
much to all of you who sent in the many contributions to this issue; it is
gratifying to know that AN is still an important
resource. We also enjoy hearing from you. There are 115 new publications listed at the end of this newsletter, many
abstracts from recent meetings, announcements of upcoming meetings in 2011, and
much more! We hope you find it useful and interesting.
We spent most of June and July at the Friday Harbor labs where Gretchen
continued her work on the Pacific distribution of the Atlantic Molgula citrina (Aquatic Invasions 5 (4): 369-378) and Charley worked on
aspects of germinal vesicle breakdown in Boltenia
villosa oocytes. In late July we joined a team of biologists on a rapid
assessment survey for invasive marine species in New Hampshire, Maine, Mass.
and Rhode Island. The RAS was organized by Judy Pederson and Jan Smith from
Mass. Sea Grant and Coastal Zone Management. In September we attended the
Invertebrate Fertilization meeting at the Friday Harbor Labs organized by Steve
Stricker and Gary
Wessels. Charley presented a paper on Boltenia
GVBD. In October we joined a survey
group from Oregon State University organized by John Chapman. On this RAS we
investigated ascidians on solid substrates in Coos Bay, Newport Bay and
elsewhere along the coast. We were surprised to see large numbers of Corella inflata in Coos Bay where we had
never seen more than a few, and a large number of the Atlantic Molgula citrina. The newsletter is a bit
late this time because December has taken us to Sacramento, California where
Charley is undergoing medical treatment, but we are greatly enjoying our new
granddaughter Alise.
*Ascidian News is not part of the scientific
literature and should not be cited as such.
1. The
next Ascidian Workshop will be held at the Panama Bocas del
Toro Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute June 9-30, 2011.
Pan
American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI): Advanced Tunicate Biology:
Integrating Modern and Traditional Techniques for the Study of Ascidians
Notice that
this is a 3 week workshop, which will include:
The
following link gives background information on the participating experts:
http://striweb.si.edu/taxonomy_training/future_courses/2011/2011_PASI_atp_Experts.html
For more information, go to the following link:
http://striweb.si.edu/taxonomy_training/future_courses/2011/2011_PASI_Advanced_Tunicate_Biology.html
and click on the Download PDF link (4.36mb).
2. From Ken Hastings,
The Sixth International Tunicate Meeting will be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, at McGill University, July 3-7, 2011.
Abstracts may be submitted describing
any aspect of tunicate research, such as developmental biology, regeneration,
genomics, genetics, cell biology, physiology, neurobiology, biochemistry,
allorecognition, evolution/systematics, ecology. Abstracts describing research on tunicates as
invasive species are welcome as this will be a topic of special interest at
this meeting (see #5 below from Mary Carman). In addition, abstracts describing
research on other organisms that sheds light on
deuterostome evolution and chordate origins are also welcome. Abstract
submission details are at http://apps.mni.mcgill.ca/tunicate/.
Ken Hastings on behalf of
the Program Committee Chris Cameron, Mary Carman, Jeff Davidson, Robert Lauzon,
Alex McDougal, Tom Meedel, Ian Meinertzhagen, Yutaka Satou.
3. 7th Intl. Conference on Marine Bioinvasions will be held at the CosmoCaixa Science Museum, Barcelona, Spain, 23-25
August 2011.
Entitled
Advances and Gaps in Understanding Marine Bioinvasions, the conference will
encompass the following themes:
Development
and Tests of Invasion Theory; Drivers of Invasibility; Patterns of invasion and
spread at local, regional, and global scales; Impact of bioinvasions on
ecosystem structure and function, including the biology and ecology of invasive
species; New tools for identification, monitoring, risk assessment, and
management
We encourage you
to submit proposals for special sessions related to these themes to Jeb Byers (jebyers@uga.edu); the deadline for submission
is 06 December 2010.
[The Ascidian News editors apologize for the lateness of this newsletter but if
you have a proposal, please submit anyway.] Sessions may be a half or a full
day long; please include a title and list of potential speakers. Dr. Gemma
Quilez-Badia gquilez@atw-wwf.org
4. Very interesting recent news release from EastBayRI.com
on Univ. of Rhode Island research showing effects of Didemnum vexillum on infaunal diversity and winter flounder
nutrition on the Georges Bank, off New England, USA http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/140050.html Are Sea Squirts Flounder-Friendly?
5. From Noa Shenkar,
Arjan Gittenberger, Gretchen Lambert, Marc Rius, Rosana Moreira da Rocha, and
Billie J Swalla
NEW World Ascidiacea
Database.
The World Ascidiacea Database has just gone
online as a part of the World Register of Marine Species initiative. It
contains all currently accepted scientific names for ascidians and is
progressively extended to include all published combinations, allowing both
specialists and non-specialists to find the currently accepted name of a
certain species.
Some taxonomic groups are complemented with
available literature and pictures.
Link: http://www.marinespecies.org/ascidiacea
6. From Mary Carman,
Biology Dept., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA mcarman@whoi.edu
The papers from the International Invasive
Sea Squirt Conference III (held at Woods Hole MA April 2010) will be published
in an upcoming issue of Aquatic Invasions. Guest editors Andrea Locke and Mark
Hanson have been receiving manuscripts of work presented at the conference and
are in the process of putting together another important collection of research
papers.
A new session, Invasive Tunicate Ecology,
has been added to the next scheduled International Tunicate Meeting. Jeff
Davidson, University of Prince Edward Island, and Mary Carman will serve as
co-chairs for the session. Please see
Ken Hastings’ 6th ITM announcement above and call for abstracts for the
meeting to be held at McGill University in July 2011.
7. My name is Gil
Koplovitz and I will be finishing my PhD dissertation at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham about
chemical defenses in Antarctic and subtropical ascidians around July 2011. I am
currently looking for post-doc opportunities with a suitable
laboratory. My research interests include chemical ecology, taxonomy and
biology of ascidians, polar ecology, marine biological invasions and molecular
ecology. My CV can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/gilkop/ and
my email is gilkop@uab.edu . Tel.
205-934-8322
WORK
IN PROGRESS
1. Dermatan sulfate in urochordate phylogeny: Order-specific sulfation
pattern and the effect of [→4IdoA(2-Sulfate)β-1→3GalNAc(4-Ssulfate)
β -1→] motifs in dermatan sulfate on heparin cofactor II
activity.
Eliene O. K. Farias1,
Paula Lima1, Cristina P. Vicente2, Xingfeng Bao3, Kazuyuki Sugahara4 and Mauro
S. G. Pavăo1,2 mpavao@hucff.ufrj.br
1Laboratório
de Tecido Conjuntivo, Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho and
Programa de Glicobiologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica, Univ. Fed. do
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-913, Brasil. 2Instituto de Biologia,
Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Săo Paulo, Brasil. 3Glycobiology Unit, Tumor Microenvironment
Program, Cancer Research Center, Burnham Institute for Medical Research, 10901
North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. 4Graduate Sch. of Life
Sci., Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
The present study aimed to investigate the
structure of dermatan sulfate (DS) and its ability to potentiate heparin
cofactor II during urochordate evolution. To approach that we compared the
disaccharide composition of DS polymers obtained from ascidian species of the
Orders, Stolidobranchia (considered more primitive) - Herdmania momus, Halocynthia roretzi, Halocynthia pyriformis and
Styela plicata and Phlebobranchia (considered more evolved) - Phallusia
nigra and Ciona intestinalis. The disaccharide analysis indicated
high content of disulfated disaccharide units in the DSs from both Orders.
Interestingly, the degree of DS sulfation decreased from the more primitive to
the more evolved ascidians. Thus, 76%
of the disaccharide unities
in the DSs from primitive stolidobranchia ascidians were disulfated, compared
to 53% in the DSs from more evolved phlebobranchia ascidians. The sulfation
pattern of the Urochordate DS disaccharides showed interesting results,
pointing to an evident structural difference: DSs from evolved Phlebobranchia
ascidians contain mainly 2,6-sulfated disaccharides,
such as echinoderms and vertebrate. However, DSs from the more primitive
stolidobranchia ascidians contain mostly 2,4-sulfated
disaccharides. Examining the phylogenetic relations among them, we can observe
an alteration from 2,4 disaccharide units
[ΔUA(2S)-GalNAc(4S)] in Echinoderms to 2,6 disaccharide units
[ΔUA(2S)-GalNAc(6S)] in Phlebobranchia, during Urochordate evolution.
Furthermore, in ascidians evolution, we observed an event of evolutionary
regression to a 2,4-sulfated DS in Stolidobranchia.
Ascidians
DS with a high 2,4-sulfated disaccharide content showed high anticoagulant activity
(H. momus and H. roretzi). Assays with C. intestinalis, a
2,6-rich DS, showed low anticoagulant activity. The
analysis of the DS structure and anticoagulant activity through HCII indicates
a clear correlation between the anticoagulant activity of DS and the presence
of 2,4-sulfated units.
2. From Patrick Lemaire: Summary of the conclusions of the
1st International Workshop on Tunicate information systems, Nice, France,
November 11-14, 2010
50 people, mainly PIs from Japan, Europe and the
USA gathered to plan the future of databases in the tunicate fields. Model
species represented included: solitary ascidians (Ciona intestinalis and C. savignyi, Halocynthia roretzi, Phallusia
mammillata, Molgula occulta and oculata), colonial ascidians
(Botryllus schlosseri, Botrylloides leachi) and larvaceans (Oikopleura
dioica). The meeting, sponsored by AVIESAN
(France, http://www.aviesan.fr/en) and
the DOPAMINET FP7 EU network (http://www.dopaminet.eu/)
had two aims: 1) Take census of the current and foreseeable needs of the
community, 2) Organize the integration of the current systems to satisfy best
the needs of the community.
The meeting was highly
successful and led to a 3 yr plan with the aims of fusing together existing
databases while a new, more comprehensive system is developed, which will
include multiple data sets (genomic, anatomy, embryonic models), and cover
solitary and colonial ascidians, as well as larvaceans/thaliaceans, and offer
more powerful search interfaces.
The meeting website can be found at http://www.tunicate-portal.org/TunicateDBMeeting_website/.
This site hosts a participant list, slides of most talks, and a summary of the
main conclusions of the meeting. patrick.lemaire@CRBM.CNRS.FR
, on behalf of all
co-organizers (T. Endo, K. Hotta, K. Inaba, Y. Satou, T. De Tomaso) and
Delphine DAUGA, Aniseed Curator Delphine.DAUGA@ibdml.univmed.fr
3. Correlating abiotic factors and genetic
patterns in marine invasive species: Importance for their distribution and
spread. Mari
Carmen Pinedaa, Victor Ordońezb, Christopher McQuaidc,
Susanna López-Legentila, Xavier Turond, Marc Riuse
a Dept. de Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Univ. de
Barcelona (mcpineda@ub.edu) b Dept. de Genčtica, Facultat de
Biologia, Univ. de Barcelona
c Department of
Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes Univ. d Centre d’Estudis Avançats de
Blanes, CSIC e Centre for
Invasion Biology, Zoology Dept., Univ. of Cape Town
Since September
2010, I have been working at the Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes
University (Grahamstown, South Africa), where I am studying the relationship
between physical factors (temperature, salinity and pollutant concentrations)
and genetic structure of globally distributed invasive ascidian species. The
introduced solitary ascidians Styela
plicata and Microcosmus squamiger
are good model species because they are globally distributed, their
phylogeography is now well understood, they can inhabit polluted waters
although their ontogenic stages are likely to be sensitive to pollution stress.
Nevertheless, these species differ ecologically within the study area: S. plicata is not present at some
localities where M. squamiger can be
easily found, suggesting a different tolerance to some abiotic factors. S. plicata usually inhabits polluted
environments (harbours and marinas), while M.
squamiger can also be found in more undisturbed habitats. In addition,
previous genetic studies using the mitochondrial marker COI found important
differences between these two species: S.
plicata has different genetic composition when comparing two populations
(Port Elizabeth and Knysna) along the south coast of South Africa, while the
phylogeography of M. squamiger shows
no significant genetic differentiation between these two populations.
Individuals
of S. plicata and M. squamiger have been collected from
Port Elizabeth and Knysna and we have studied them using a variety of methods:
1) Adults were exposed to different conditions (temperature, salinity and
environmentally realistic copper concentrations) and their stress protein
(Hsp70) levels were analyzed using western blots; 2) In vitro fertilization was
achieved and the effect of the same factors on gametes, fertilization, larvae
survival, settlement and metamorphosis was assessed; 3) Sequences of the COI
gene of each individual were obtained to correlate the different responses with
genetic patterns. This work will be completed in the next few months and will provide
important information on the role of stress tolerance for the distribution and
spread of these widespread introduced species.
4. Does
ascidian MIS activate a proteinase activated receptor?
Charles Lambert, Univ. of Washington Friday Harbor
Labs, Friday Harbor WA
clambert@fullerton.edu
At the end of oogenesis many large oocytes
with large germinal vesicles (diploid nucleus) are ovulated to be stored in the
ovary until spawning. In most ascidian species transfer of ovarian oocytes to
sea water results in the onset of meiosis (germinal vesicle breakdown; GVBD).
In most other deuterostomes the maturation inducing substance (MIS) is a
product of the follicle cells that induces GVBD in the oocytes. In 1991 Sakairi
and Shirai proposed that the ascidian MIS was a trypsin-like protease. Removal of the follicle cells or treatment
with soy bean trypsin inhibitor or other protease inhibitors blocked GVBD. These findings were verified in Lambert 2005,
2008. In the latter paper I also showed that isolated follicle cells released
trypsin activity in response to an increase in pH. Current studies indicate
that the ovarian pH of Boltenia villosa
is below pH 6.
By the early new century scientists recognized that under certain
circumstances proteases could activate receptors by proteolytic cleavage
(Steinhoff et al 2005). In some ways
this is similar to classical ligand–receptor activation except that it was
irreversible. These receptors were termed proteinase activated receptors
(PARs). Currently 4 types of PARs are known, PARs 1,3
and 4 which are activated by thrombin
and PAR 2 which requires trypsin and not thrombin for activation
(Steinhoff et al 2005). The original
1991 paper of Sakairi and Shirai contains several experiments demonstrating
irreversible kinetics and this past summer I carried out additional experiments
with Boltenia villosa oocytes showing
that activation by trypsin is irreversible and cannot be activated by thrombin.
My current hypothesis is that MIS release is inhibited by the acidity of the
ovary. Trypsin is released from the follicle cells when the oocytes reach SW
(pH 8.2) which binds to and activates an oocyte surface PAR 2 receptor. This
irreversibly causes GVBD without the possibility of dilution of the ligand from
the transfer from the ovary to SW.
Lambert
, C.C. 2005. Signaling pathways in ascidian oocyte maturation: Effects of
various inhibitors and activators on germinal vesicle breakdown. Dev.
Growth & Differ. 47: 265–272.
Lambert
, C.C. 2008. Signaling pathways in ascidian oocyte maturation: The role of
cyclic AMP and follicle cells in germinal vesicle breakdown. Dev. Growth
& Differ. 50: 181–188.
Sakairi,
K. and H. Shirai 1991.
Possible MS production by follicle cells in spontaneous oocyte maturation of
the ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi. Dev. Growth & Differ. 33(2):
155-162.
Steinhoff,
M. et al. 2005. Proteinase-activated receptors: transducers of proteinase-mediated
signaling in inflammation and immune response. Endocrine Reviews
26(1):1–43.
1. III Meeting
Italian Ascidiologists, Palermo, September 2010
Immunolocalizzazione di un peptide antimicrobico nella tunica di Ciona intestinalis (Tunicata). Di Bella M. A.1, Fedders H.2,
Leippe M. 2 ,
De Leo G. 1 mdibella@unipa.it
1 Dipartimento di Biopatologia e Biotecnologie mediche e forensi. Univ. di Palermo, Palermo, Italy; 2 Dept. of Zoophysiology,. Univ. of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
I tunicati, sono cordati considerati per la loro posizione filogenetica,
modelli significativi nello studio sulla evoluzione
del sistema immunitario. Essi mancano di immunitŕ adattativa, ma sono provvisti
di un efficient sistema di risposta innata affidata sia a fattori umorali che
cellulari.. Di recente č stata identificata nel data
base EST dell’ascidia Ciona intestinalis una nuova famiglia di geni
putativi di molecole antimicrobiche che č stato dimostrato, sono sintetizzate e
accumulate in alcuni emociti. Il peptide sintetico
(Ci-MAM-A) esercita
una potente attivitŕ antimicrobica sia
nei riguardi dei batteri che contro Candida albicans. Considerato che nei Tunicati, il
peculiare tessuto di rivestimento, la tunica, svolge diverse funzioni quail
riparazione ferite, attivitŕ immunologiche ed escretorie, riconoscimento del
non-self, abbiamo testato anticorpi specifici generati dal peptide sintetico
Ci-MAM-A come antigene, sulla tunica di C. intestinalis sia in
condizioni fisiologiche, che in condizioni di infiammazione indotta. La
molecola naturale č stata localizzata all’interno di alcuni granulociti della tunica e anche nella matrice di essa. Questi dati
confermano che interazioni complesse si stabiliscono tra la espressione di
molecole antimicrobiche naturali e il coinvolgimento
delle cellule durante le reazioni di difesa effettuate contro i microrganismi.
2. XVI Simposio
Ibérico de Estudios de Biología Marina, Alicante, Spain, 6-10 September 2010.
a) Ascidian-Cyanobacteria Symbiosis. Susanna López-Legentila,
Bongkeun Songb, Joseph R. Pawlikb, Xavier Turonc
aDept. of Animal Biology (Invertebrates),
Univ. of Barcelona. 645 Diagonal Avenue, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (susanna@univ-perp.fr)
bCenter
for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington. 5600 Marvin K.
Moss Lane, Wilmington NC 28409, USA
cCentre d’Estudis Avançats
de Blanes (CEAB, CSIC), c/ Accés cala St Francesc, 14 17300 Blanes-Girona,
Spain
Symbiotic
interactions between ascidians and microbes are only beginning to be explored,
with few studies employing the molecular approaches required to accurately assess
marine bacterial biodiversity. The majority of ascidian-microbe studies have
focused on species within the family Didemnidae that establish symbiotic
relationships with unicellular cyanobacteria from the genera Prochloron (Prochlorales) and Synechocystis (Chroococcales). These photosynthetic
symbionts provide the host ascidians with a green or red pigmentation and an
array of secondary metabolites, some of which have promising pharmaceutical
properties. We have reviewed the existent literature on ascidian-cyanobacteria
symbiosis and added our own research to the field by characterizing the
cyanobacterial population of the didemnind species Trididemnum solidum,
Trididemnum aff. cyanophorum, and Lissoclinum fragile. We sequenced first a
fragment of the16S rRNA of 771 bp, and then extended these sequences to 1491 bp
by including the entire 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS). Blast
searches in GenBank showed that the best match for the main symbiont of
Trididemnum solidum and Trididemnum aff. cyanophorum
was Prochloron didemni (98% identity, 97% coverage; and 98% identity, 94%
coverage respectively). For Lissoclinum fragile Blast searches with the 16S
rRNA fragment of its main symbiont showed that the closer match was the
freshwater cyanobacteria Leptolyngbya badia (95% max. identity, 100% coverage);
while Blast searches using the full length of our sequences returned both
Acaryochloris marina (95% identity; 85% coverage) and Leptolyngbya badia (100%
identity, 61% coverage) as best matches. Unlike Prochloron, which was
originally described as an ascidian symbiont, there is no record of ascidian
symbiosis with Leptolyngbia. More intriguing will be a symbiosis with a
cyanobacteria closely related to A. marina. A. marina is known to be the only
oxygenic photoautotroph that uses chl d as the predominant photosynthetic
pigment, and has been found growing on biofilms beneath didemnid ascidians, and
more recently at the base of the ascidian Cystodytes dellechiajei
(Policytoridae). Electron transmission microscope (TEM) observations revealed
the presence in the tunic and the larvae of L. fragilum of cyanobacteria
similar in structure and size to A. marina, suggesting that the symbionts were
vertically transmitted to the progeny and reinforcing the symbiotic character
of this group. Finally, we point out that, as found for sponges, ITS gene
sequences displayed much higher variability than 16S rRNA sequences,
highlighting the utility of ITS sequences in determining the genetic diversity
and host specificity of symbiont populations among ascidian species.
b) Introductions
and expansions: genetic differentiation and phylogeographic patterns in the
solitary ascidian Styela plicata. Mari Carmen Pineda a,
Susanna López-Legentila, Xavier Turonb
aDept.
de Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Univ. de
Barcelona (mcpineda@ub.edu)
bCentre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes, CSIC
Marine introductions have increased
considerably during the last century and are threatening native biodiversity
while interfering with shellfish aquaculture and other fishery activities. Styela plicata (Lesueur, 1823) is a
solitary ascidian widely distributed in both tropical and temperate waters,
although its origin remains unclear. The aim of this study was to infer the genetic structure and
phylogeography of S. plicata on a worldwide
scale and to assess the potential role of ship transport on the current distribution of
this species. To address this question we have analyzed two genetic markers: a
fragment of the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (COI) and a
fragment spanning the intron of the nuclear gene Adenine Nucleotide
Transporter/ADP-ATP Translocase (ANT). A total of 344 individuals for COI and
291 for ANT were obtained from 2 locations on the Mediterranean Sea, 6 from the
Atlantic, 6 from the Pacific and 2 from the Indian Ocean. The nuclear marker
had a higher gene diversity (mean 0.764) and nucleotide diversity (mean 0.029)
than the mitochondrial marker (0.487 and 0.005, respectively). The
Mediterranean populations showed the least diversity for both markers, while
the Indian Ocean and Western Atlantic (ANT) and Western Atlantic (COI) had the
highest diversity in terms of both haplotypes and nucleotides. For COI we found
two well-supported groups of haplotypes (>3% of divergence) but no clear
phylogenetic structure was retrieved with ANT. Genetic divergence was
significant for many population-pairs, especially for COI, irrespective of the
geographic distance among them (i.e., no evidence of isolation by distance). Our results suggest that S.plicata has been present in all the studied oceans for a long
time, possibly through recurrent introduction events via maritime transport.
The source of the species’ expansion could not be unambiguously identified,
although overall the Western Atlantic populations were the most diverse. The
Mediterranean Sea seems to have been colonized more recently, judging from the
low diversity and number of private haplotypes (only one for each marker). Stochasticity
of the introduction events is reflected in the uneven distribution of both COI
haplotype groups, the significant differences in haplotype frequencies among
many populations, and the fact that there are populations with an excess or
deficit of homozygotes for ANT. Although this species has been mainly found in
harbour and artificial platforms, the potential spread of its populations to
natural substrates cannot be discounted. Further studies regarding the invasive
potential of S.plicata on a smaller
geographic scale are necessary, together with an in-depth characterization of
its reproductive cycles, recruitment rates and growth patterns.
c)
Reproductive cycle of the invasive ascidian Styela
plicata in the NW Mediterranean Sea. Mari Carmen
Pinedaa, Alba Muntadasa, Roger Esplugaa,
Susanna López-Legentila, Xavier Turonb
aDept.
de Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Univ. de Barcelona (mcpineda@ub.edu)
bCentre
d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB, CSIC)
The solitary
ascidian Styela plicata (Lesuer,
1823) presents nowadays a wide distribution in both tropical and temperate
waters, being some of the main components of the fouling communities in most
harbours and marinas all around the world. The geographical origin of this
species is uncertain but at present it can be certainly considered as
introduced in most of its distributional range. Although this species has the
ability to modify natural communities and hence produce important economical
impacts, studies about the biological cycle of this species are scarce. Our aim
was to study the reproductive cycle of Styela
plicata in the NW Mediterranean and for that purpose on January 2009 we
started collecting monthly samples of this species at two localities within the
Catalan coast. These localities were situated in the interior of the harbours
of Vilanova i
Once in the
laboratory, the animals were measured (length, width and height) and after
removing the tunic and opening the mantle, the gonads were dissected. Wet and
dry weights of gonads and mantle were used to calculate a gonadosomatic index
(GSI). Moreover, one of the gonads on the right side of the animal was used to
assess the maturity state through histological sections. Simultaneously,
temperature and salinity of the water at both localities was registered, as
well as recruitment observed, growth and population structure in the Vilanova i
3. 81st
Annual Meeting of the Zoological Society of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, 21-23
September 2010.
Organization of the neural complex of Symplegma sp. (viride?). Hiromichi Koyama, College of Nursing,
Sch. of Medicine, Yokohama City Univ.
I examined the structure of the neural complex of Symplegma sp. by light microscopic sections of Technovit 7100. The ciliated funnel has a simple slit-like
structure. The cytoplasm of the funnel
cells with inward long cilia stains faintly with cresyl violet. This tendency
has been seen in all species studied so far.
The cerebral ganglion is ovoid, and has a maximum diameter of 90 μm
and a maximum length of 120 μm. The
cerebral ganglion consists of cellular cortex and fibrous medulla. Most of the somata of the neurons are small (about
5 μm in diameter), but several huge somata (more than 10 μm in
diameter) are observed. The neural gland
is small and located above the anterior part of the cerebral ganglion. The
neural gland consists of the cells with a large vacuole. The dorsal strand does
not form a dorsal organ like Botryllus
schlosseri, which belongs to the same subfamily as Symplegma. The dorsal strand
descends a little behind the cerebral ganglion, and expands. The dorsal strand cells are connected loosely
near the caudal end of it, and some cells become free. This situation is similar to the terminal
cells of the dorsal strand of Polyandrocarpa
misakiensis, a colonial styelid ascidian.
Just as the terminal cells of P.
misakiensis, the terminal cells of Symplegma
sp. have a large inclusion stained red with cresyl violet. (Prof. T. Nishikawa
is identifying the material of this study right now.)
4. 7th Intl. Symposium on the
Chemistry and Biological Chemistry of Vanadium, October 6-9, 2010, Toyama City,
Japan (http://www.vanadiumseven.com/).
The symposium was chaired by Prof. Hitoshi
Michibata, Hiroshima University, and two co-chairs, Prof. Kan Kanamori,
University of Toyama, and Prof. Toshikazu Hirao, Osaka University. A special
issue in Coordination Chemistry Reviews will be released in early 2011.
The following presentations were presented
from Prof. Michibata's laboratory, Dept. of Biological Sci., Graduate School of
Science, Hiroshima Univ., 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan. hmichi@hiroshima-u.ac.jp Asterisks indicate presenting author.
a) Molecular mechanism of the
transport and reduction pathway of vanadium in ascidians.
*Tatsuya
Ueki and Hitoshi Michibata.
ueki@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
b) poster: Identification of genes regulated by excess vanadium ions in ascidians,
focusing on redox and accumulation of metals. *Satoshi
Kume, Tatsuya Ueki and Hitoshi Michibata. Dept. of
Biological Sci., Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima Univ. The gold prize of Outstanding Poster Awards
for Young Scientists was given to Mr. Satoshi Kume for this poster.
c) poster: Expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis of the intestine from the most
vanadium-rich ascidian Ascidia gemmata, and their application to heavy
metal biosorption system. *Setijono Samino, Tatsuya Ueki, and Hitoshi
Michibata
d) poster: Measurement and comparison of V(V)-reductase activity of Vanabin family
of a vanadium-rich ascidian Ascidia sydneiensis samea. *Tomoya
Kimizu, Tatsuya Ueki and Hitoshi Michibata.
5. 5th National Conference
and Expo on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration, Galveston, Texas,
November 13-17, 2010
The impact of invasive tunicates in
marine coastal eelgrass habitats in Massachusetts
Grunden,
David W.1; Carman, M.R.2; Colarusso, P.3;
Chintala, M.M.4; Blackwood, D.S.5
1Oak Bluffs Shellfish
Dept., P. O. Box 1327, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
2Biology Dept., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543
3US Environmental
Protection Agency, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100, Boston, MA 02109
4US Environmental
Protection Agency, Atlantic Ecology Division, 27 Tarzwell Dr, Narragansett, RI
02882
5US Geological Survey,
360 Woods Hole Rd, Woods Hole, MA 02543
Non-native tunicates have been invading
New England marine coastal environments during the past 30 years, and are now
posing a potential threat to eelgrass.
Tunicates (Ascidiacea) are invertebrate marine filter feeders that
overgrow natural and artificial substrates.
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds
are cosmopolitan, productive, and high diversity habitats that provide many
significant ecosystem services (e.g., support a trophic food web, stabilize
sediments, serve as nursery grounds for commercially
important fish and shellfish). The
consequences of invasive tunicates in coastal habitats can be devastating. For example, Didemnum vexillum has caused economic loss for New England sea
scallop fishermen offshore at Georges Bank and shellfish aquaculturists in near
shore waters and caused ecological destruction in intertidal and subtidal
benthic communities. In 2008 and 2009,
after decades of monitoring eelgrass meadows in Massachusetts, we found Botrylloides violaceus on eelgrass
throughout Major’s Cove in Sengekontacket Pond, B. violaceus, D. vexillum, and Diplosoma
listerianum attached to eelgrass in the middle area of Lake Tashmoo, and Ascidiella aspersa, B. violaceus, and D. vexillum on eelgrass throughout
Stonewall Pond on Martha’s Vineyard; D.
listerianum on eelgrass in patches at the east entrance to the Cape Cod
Canal; and B. violaceus and D. listerianum on eelgrass at Gloucester
Harbor and Cape Ann in northern Massachusetts.
In Massachusetts, the exotic tunicates A. aspersa and D. vexillum
have adapted to utilizing eelgrass as substrate and B. violaceus and D.
listerianum, previously known to use eelgrass as substrate elsewhere, have
vigorously spread into eelgrass habitats.
This is the first recorded occurrence of A. aspersa and D. vexillum
to use eelgrass as substrate. However,
it is unknown if these are isolated incidents or indicative of a future
trend. Tunicates commonly occurred as
small patches on outer eelgrass blades but in some cases, D. vexillum encapsulated the plants to such an extent that they
could no longer naturally defoliate or release seed. Tunicates likely block sunlight from reaching
the blade, inhibiting necessary photosynthesis.
Tunicate growth on eelgrass blades where epiphytic algae would otherwise
be present appears to inhibit herbivorous grazers. Invasive tunicates are probably negatively
impacting eelgrass, however, their filtration capacity
may have a positive impact on the ecosystem by consuming excess phytoplankton
and bacteria from the water. Changes in
the environment such as warming water temperatures, ocean acidification, and
excess nutrients may contribute to the success of these invaders. Climate change has negatively impacted native
tunicates thus enabling non-native tunicates that have a greater temperature
tolerance. Warming sea temperatures are
shifting species’ ranges due to species’ thermal tolerances. Continued monitoring of eelgrass is necessary
to determine the full impact of invasive tunicates on eelgrass beds.
6. Proc. of Natl. seminar on
Biodiversity Conservation & Management of Aquatic Resources (NSBCMA
2010), 9-10 December 2010
A
survey on invasive ascidians in south coast of India
Jaffar Ali H A, Sivakumar V and
Tamilselvi M, Directorate of Research and Extension (Fisheries), Tamilnadu
Veterinary & Animal Sciences Univ., Thoothukudi, India.
Invasive ascidians are a dominant
feature of many sessile marine fouling communities throughout the world and may
have negative effects on species diversity. There are
12 major ports and numerous minor ports along the 7,500km long Indian
coastline, which may act as gateways for marine bio-invasions. The
distribution and impact of invasive ascidians in India are less well documented
but unsparing problems are developing and hence the present study was aimed to
document the invasive ascidians in the South Indian coastal waters. In this paper both literature data and
results from the field surveys conducted at ten coastal areas of south India
during 2008-2010 were utilized to compile a checklist of invasive ascidians along
the southern coasts of India. A total of sixty one species of ascidians has
been reported in the present study. Among these, fifty four ascidians have been
believed to be invasive species, with mostly from Australian origin. Seven
ascidians are found as established invasive. Their arrival has been mainly due
to shipping and ballast waters and some that have arrived recently may have
significant future impact. The discovery of several new records during the
survey indicates that the rate of introductions has substantially increased
over the last two decades. The impact of the established invasive ascidians on sessile invertebrate community in
Tuticorin and Vizhinjam Bay has already noted and a prediction has also been
made on bioinvasion.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
Ben-Shlomo,
R., Reem, E., Douek, J. and Rinkevich, B. 2010. Population genetics
of the invasive ascidian Botryllus
schlosseri from South American coasts. Marine Ecology Progress
Series 412: 85–92.
Bonura,
A., Vizzini, A., Salerno, G., Parrinello, D., Parrinello, N., Longo, V.,
Montana, G. and Colombo, P. 2010. Cloning and expression of a novel component
of the CAP superfamily enhanced in the inflammatory response to LPS of the
ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Cell and
Tissue Research 342: 411-421.
Bremec,
C. and Schejter, L. 2010. Benthic diversity in a submarine
canyon in the Argentine sea. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 83:
453-457.
Brunetti,
R. 2010. Redescription of Botrylloides
magnicoecum (Hartmeyer, 1912) based on the analysis of the type (Tunicata,
Styelidae, Botryllinae). Boll.
Mus. civ. St. Nat. Venezia 61: 45-58.
Bullard,
S. G., Shumway, S. E. and Davis, C. V. 2010. The use of aeration
as a simple and environmentally sound means to prevent biofouling.
Biofouling 26: 587–593.
Burighel,
P., Caicci, F. and Manni, L. 2010.
Hair cells in non-vertebrate models: lower chordates and molluscs. Hearing Research in press.
Caicci,
F., Degasperi, V., Gasparini, F., Zaniolo, G., Del Favero, M., Burighel, P. and
Manni, L. 2010. Variability of hair cells in the coronal organ of ascidians (Chordata,
Tunicata). Canadian Journal of Zoology 88: 567-578.
Carman,
M. R., Morris, J. A., Karney, R. C. and Grunden, D. W. 2010. An
initial assessment of native and invasive tunicates in shellfish aquaculture of
the North American east coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 26:
8–11.
Carroll,
A. R., Duffy, S. and Avery, V. M. 2010. Aplidiopsamine A, an antiplasmodial alkaloid from the
temperate Australian ascidian, Aplidiopsis
confluata. Journal of Organic Chemistry 75: 8291-8294.
Chebbi,
N., Mastrototaro, F. and Missaoui, H. 2010. Spatial
distribution of ascidians in two Tunisian lagoons of the Mediterranean Sea.
Cahiers de Biologie Marine 51: 117-127.
Choi,
H., Hwang, H., Chin, J., Kim, E., Lee, J., Nam, S. J., Lee, B. C., Rho, B. J.
and Kang, H. 2010. Tuberatolides, Potent FXR antagonists from
the Korean marine tunicate Botryllus
tuberatus. Journal of Natural Products epub.
Collin,
S. B., Oakley, J. A., Sewell, J. and Bishop, J. D. D. 2010. Widespread
occurrence of the non-indigenous ascidian Corella
eumyota Traustedt, 1882 on the shores of Plymouth Sound and Estuaries
Special Area of Conservation, UK. Aquatic Invasions 5: 175-179.
Cooper,
E. L. 2009. Putative stem cell origins in solitary tunicates.
In: Stem Cells in Marine Organisms. Rinkevich, B. and Matranga, V. eds.
Springer Netherlands, pp. 21-32.
Cooper,
E. L. 2010. Evolution of immune systems from self/not self to
danger to artificial immune systems (AIS). Physics of Life Reviews 7:
55–78.
David,
G. K., Marshall, D. J. and Riginos, C. 2010. Latitudinal
variability in spatial genetic structure in the invasive ascidian, Styela plicata. Marine Biology `57:
1955-1965.
Davis,
M. H. and Davis, M. E. 2010.
The impact of the ascidian Styela clava Herdman on
shellfish farming in the Bassin de Thau, France. Journal of Applied
Ichthyology 26: 12-18.
Demarchi,
M., Chiappero, M., Tatián, M. and Sahade, R. 2010. Population genetic
structure of the Antarctic ascidian Aplidium
falklandicum from Scotia Arc and South Shetland Islands. Polar
Biology 33 (11): 1567-1576.
Denoeud,
F., Henriet, S., Mungpakdee, S. and al., e. 2010. Plasticity of
animal genome architecture unmasked by rapid evolution of a pelagic tunicate.
Science 330: 1381-1385.
Dupont,
L., Viard, F., Davis, M. H., Nishikawa, T. and Bishop, J. D. D. 2010. Pathways of spread
of the introduced ascidian Styela clava
(Tunicata) in Northern Europe, as revealed by microsatellite markers.
Biological Invasions 12: 2707-2721.
Edwards,
K. F. and Stachowicz, J. J. 2010.
Multivariate trade-offs, succession, and phenological
differentiation in a guild of colonial invertebrates. Ecology 91:
3146–3152.
Endo,
T., Ueno, K., Yonezawa, K., Mineta, K., Hotta, K., Satou, Y. (and 14 additional
authors) 2010.
CIPRO 2.5: Ciona intestinalis protein
database, a unique integrated repository of large-scale genomics data,
bioinformatic analyses and curated annotation, with user rating and reviewing
functionality. Nucleic Acids Research epub.
Franchi,
N., Boldrin, F., Ballarin, L. and Piccinni, E. 2010. CiMT-1, an unusual chordate
metallothionein gene in Ciona
intestinalis genome: structure and expression studies. Journal of
Experimental Zoology A 313A:
Franchi,
N., Schiavon, F., Carletto, M., Gasparini, F., Bertoloni, G., Tosatto, S. C.
and Ballarin, L. 2010.
Immune roles of a rhamnose-binding lectin in the colonial
ascidian Botryllus schlosseri.
Immunobiology epub.
Geller,
J. B., Darling, J. A. and Carlton, J. T. 2010. Genetic
perspectives on marine biological invasions. Annual Review of Marine
Science 2: 367-393.
Gittenberger,
A., Rensing, M., Stegenga, H. and Hoeksema, B. 2010. Native and
non-native species of hard substrata in the Dutch Wadden Sea.
Nederlandse Faunistische Mededelingen 33: 21-75.
Grey,
E. K. 2010. Effects of large enemies on success of exotic
species in marine fouling communities of Washington, USA. Marine Ecology
Progress Series 411: 89-100.
Hamida,
N. B. H., Hamida-Ben A., O. B. H., Ghorbel, M., Jarboui, O. and Missaoui, H.
2010. The feeding habits of the bluespotted seabream, Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes,
1830), in the Gulf of Gabes (Central Mediterranean). Reviews in
Fisheries Science 18: 65-72.
Haydar,
D. 2010. What is natural? The scale and consequences of
marine bioinvasions in the North Atlantic Ocean. Van Denderen BV,
Groningen, The Netherlands. 184 pp.
Hirose,
E. and Nozawa, Y. 2010. Photosymbiotic ascidians from Kenting
and Lyudao in Taiwan. Zoological Studies 49: 681-687.
Hirose,
M., Tochikubo, T. and Hirose, E. 2010. Taxonomic significance of tunic spicules in
photosymbiotic ascidians: a quantitative and molecular evaluation. Journal of
the Marine Biological Association U. K. 90: 1065–1071.
Hirose,
M., Nozawa, Y. and Hirose, E. 2010.
Genetic isolation among morphotypes in the photosymbiotic
didemnid Didemnum molle (Ascidiacea,
Tunicata) from the Ryukyus and Taiwan. Zoological Science 27:
959–964.
Holland,
L. Z. and Sower, S. A. 2010.
"Insights of Early Chordate Genomics: Endocrinology and Development in
Amphioxus, Tunicates and Lampreys": Introduction to the symposium.
Integrative and Comparative Biology 50: 17-21.
Jaffar
Ali, H. A., Sivakumar, V. and Tamilselvi, M. 2009. Distribution of
alien and cryptogenic ascidians along the southern coasts of Indian Peninsula.
World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 1: 305-312.
Jaffar
Ali, H. A., Sivakumar, V. and Tamilselvi, M. 2010. New record of
colonial ascidians from south west coast off India. Middle-East Journal
of Scientific Research 5: 366 -373.
Jiang,
L., Liu, Q. and Ni, J. 2010. In silico identification of the sea squirt
selenoproteome. BMC Genomics 11: 289.
Kano,
S. 2010. Genomics and developmental approaches to an ascidian
adenohypophysis primordium. Integrative and Comparative Biology 50:
35-52.
Kashin,
I. A., Bagaveeva, E. V. and Chaplygina, S. F. 2003. Fouling communities
of hydrotechnical constructions in Nakhodka Bay (Sea of Japan). Russian
Journal of Marine Biology 29: 267–283.
Kashman,
Y., Bishara, A. and Aknin, M. 2010. Recent N-atom containing
compounds from indo-pacific invertebrates. Marine Drugs 8:
2810-2836.
Khalaman,
V. V. 2010. Life span and growth rate of Styela
rustica (Ascidiae, Chordata) inhabiting the White Sea [in Russian; English
abstract]. Russian Journal of Zoology 89: 1268-1272.
Khare,
P., Mortimer, S. I., Cleto, C. L., Okamura, K., Suzuki, Y., Kusakabe, T.,
Nakai, K., Meedel, T. H. and Hastings, K. E. 2010. Cross-validated methods for
promoter/transcription start site mapping in SL trans-spliced genes,
established using the Ciona intestinalis
troponin I gene. Nucleic Acids Research epub.
Khoueiry,
P., Rothbacher, U., Ohtsuka, Y., Daian, F., Frangulian, E., Roure, A., Dubchak,
I. and Lemaire, P. 2010. A cis-regulatory signature in
ascidians and flies, independent of transcription factor binding sites.
Current Biology 20: 792-802.
Kitano,
T., Satou, M. and Saitou, N. 2010.
Evolution of two Rh blood group-related genes of the
amphioxus species Branchiostoma floridae.
Genes & Genetic Systems 85: 121-127.
Kondilatos,
G., Corsini-Foka, M. and Pancucci-Papadopoulou, M.-A. 2010. Occurrence of the first
non-indigenous ascidian Phallusia nigra
Savigny, 1816 (Tunicata: Ascidiacea) in Greek waters. Aquatic Invasions 5:
181-184.
Kugler,
J. E., Gazdoiu, S., Oda-Ishii, I., Passamaneck, Y. J., Erives, A. J. and Di
Gregorio, A. 2010. Temporal regulation of the muscle gene
cascade by Macho1 and Tbx6 transcription factors in Ciona intestinalis. Journal of Cell Science 123:
2453-2463.
Kumagai,
A., Suto, A., Ito, H., Tanabe, T., Takahashi, K., Kamaishi, T. and Miwa, S.
2010. Mass
mortality of cultured ascidians Halocynthia
roretzi associated with softening of the tunic and flagellate-like cells.
Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 90: 223-234.
Lagger,
C., Häussermann, V., Försterra, G. and Tatián, M. 2009. Ascidians from the
southern Chilean Comau Fjord (Chordata, Ascidiacea). Spixiana 32:
173-185.
Lambert,
G., Shenkar, N. and Swalla, B. J. 2010. First Pacific record of the north
Atlantic ascidian Molgula citrina –
bioinvasion or circumpolar distribution? Aquatic Invasions 5 (4): 369-378.
Lescano,
N., Fuentes, V. L., Sahade, R. and Tatián, M. 2010. Identification
of gut contents and microscopical observations of the gut epithelium of the
macrophagous ascidian Cibacapsa gulosa
Monniot & Monniot, 1983 (Phlebobranchia, Octacnemidae). Polar Biology epub.
Lipari,
L., Gerbino, A., Lipari, D. and Farina, E. V. 2010. ANP (Atrial
Natriuretic Peptide) presence in the heart of a tunicate, Ciona intestinalis. Folia Histochemica et
Cytobiolica 48: 68-70.
Manriquez,
P. H. and Castilla, J. C. 2010.
Fertilization efficiency and gamete viability in the ascidian
Pyura praeputialis in Chile.
Marine Ecology Progress Series 409: 107-119.
Menezes,
C. B. A., Bonugli-Santos, R. C., Miqueletto, P. B., Passarini, M. R. Z., Silva,
C. H. D., Justo, M. R., Leal, R. R., Fantinatti-Garboggini, F., Oliveira, V.
M., Berlinck, R. G. S. and Sette, L. D. 2010. Microbial diversity associated
with algae, ascidians and sponges from the north coast of Sao Paulo state,
Brazil. Microbiological Research 165: 466-482.
Monniot,
F. 2010. Some new data on tropical western Pacific ascidians.
Zootaxa 2561: 1–29.
Munguia,
P., Osman, R. W., Hamilton, J., Whitlatch, R. B. and Zajac, R. N. 2010. Modeling of
priority effects and species dominance in Long Island Sound. Marine
Ecology Progress Series 413: 229-240.
Nagar,
A. E., Huys, R. and Bishop, J. D. D. 2010. Widespread occurrence of the southern
hemisphere ascidian Corella eumyota
Traustedt, 1882 on the Atlantic coast of Iberia. Aquatic Invasions 5:
169-173.
Nakashima,
K., Nishino, A., Horikawa, Y., Hirose, E., Sugiyama, J. and Satoh, N. 2010. The crystalline phase of cellulose
changes under developmental control in a marine chordate. Cell and Molecular
Life Science epub:
Nanri,
K., Ogawa, J. and Nishikawa, T. 1992. Tunic of pyurid ascidian Microcosmus hartmeyeri Oka is eaten
locally in Japan. Nanki Seibutu 34 (2): 135.
Nova-Bustos,
N., Hernandez-Zanuy, A. C. and Viquez-Portuguez, R. 2010. Distribution and
abundance of the rocky bottom ascidians of Cuajiniquil Bay, Costa Rica.
Boletin de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras 39: 57-66.
Nunez-Pons,
L., Forestieri, R., Nieto, R. M., Varela, M., Nappo, M., Rodriguez, J.,
Jimenez, C., Castelluccio, F., Carbone, M., Ramos-Espla, A., Gavagnin, M. and
Avila, C. 2010. Chemical defenses of tunicates of the genus Aplidium from the Weddell Sea (Antarctica). Polar Biology 33:
1319-1329.
Nydam,
M. L. and Harrison, R. G. 2010.
Introgression despite substantial divergence in a broadcast
spawning marine invertebrate. Evolution epub.
Obara,
B., Veeman, M., Choi, J. H., Smith, W. and Manjunath, B. S. 2010. Segmentation of ascidian notochord
cells in DIC timelapse images. Microscopy Research and
Technique epub.
Oda-Ishii,
I., Ishii, Y. and Mikawa, T. 2010.
Eph regulates dorsoventral asymmetry of the notochord plate and convergent
extension-mediated notochord formation. PLoS One 5: e13689.
Ohshiro,
K., Obinata, T., Dennisson, J. G., Ogasawara, M. and Sato, N. 2010. Troponin in both smooth and striated
muscles of ascidian Ciona intestinalis
functions as a Ca(2+)-dependent accelerator of
actin-myosin interaction. Biochemistry epub:
Ohta,
N., Horie, T., Satoh, N. and Sasakura, Y. 2010. Transposon-mediated enhancer
detection reveals the location, morphology and development of the cupular
organs, which are putative hydrodynamic sensors, in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Zoological Science 27:
842-850.
Okamura,
K., Matsumoto, K. A. and Nakai, K. 2010. Gradual transition from mosaic to
global DNA methylation patterns during deuterostome evolution. BMC Bioinformatics
11 Suppl 7: S2.
Ooishi,
S. 2010. Enterocola hessei Chatton & Harant (Copepoda: Cyclopoida:
Ascidicolidae) living in the compound ascidian Clavelina lepadiformis (Müller). Proceedings of the Biological
Society of Washington 123: 37–148.
O'Reilly,
M. 2008. New records of copepods associated with ascidians from Scottish
waters, including the description of a new species Enterocola ooishiae n. sp. (Cyclopoida, Ascidicolidae), from a
simple ascidian. The Glasgow Naturalist 25: 57–74.
Orensanz,
J. M., Schwindt, E., Pastorino, G., Bortolus, A., Casas, G., Darrigran, G.,
Elias, R., Gappa, J. J. L., Obenat, S., Pascual, M., Penchaszadel, P., Piriz,
M. L., Scarabino, F., Spivak, E. D. and Vallarino, E. A. 2002. No longer the
pristine confines of the world ocean: a survey of exotic marine species in the
southwestern Atlantic. Biological Invasions 4: 115–143.
Osman,
R. W., Munguia, P., Whitlatch, R. B., Zajac, R. N. and Hamilton, J. 2010. Thresholds
and multiple community states in marine fouling communities: integrating
natural history with management strategies. Marine Ecology Progress Series 413:
277-289.
Parrinello,
N., Vizzini, A., Salerno, G., Sanfratello, M. A., Cammarata, M., Arizza, V.,
Vazzana, M. and Parrinello, D. 2010. Inflamed adult pharynx tissues and swimming larva of Ciona intestinalis share CiTNF
alpha-producing cells. Cell & Tissue Research 341: 299-311.
Parton,
R. M. and Davis, I. 2010. How the sea squirt nucleus tells mesoderm not to be
endoderm. Development Cell 19: 487-488.
Plotkin,
A. S., Railkin, A. I., Gerasimova, E. I., Pimenov, A. Y. and Sipenkova, T. M.
2005. Subtidal underwater rock communities of the White Sea: structure and
interaction with bottom flow. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 31:
335–343.
Rabinowitz,
C. and Rinkevich, B. 2010.
De novo emerged stemness signatures in epithelial monolayers developed from
extirpated palleal buds. In Vitro Cell and Developmental
Biology—Animal epub.
Raff,
R. A. and Love, A. C. 2004.
Kowalevsky, comparative evolutionary embryology, and the
intellectual lineage of evo-devo. Journal of Experimental Zoology (Mol.
Dev. Evol.) 302B: 19-34.
Rajesh,
R. P., Ramasamy, M. S. and Murugan, A. 2010. Anticancer activity of the ascidian Polyclinum indicum against cervical
cancer cells (HeLa) mediated through apoptosis induction. Medicinal
Chemistry epub.
Reinhardt,
J. F., Stefaniak, L. M., Hudson, D. M., Mangiafico, J., Gladych, R. and
Whitlatch, R. B. 2010.
First record of the non-native light bulb tunicate Clavelina lepadiformis (Müller, 1776) in
the northwest Atlantic. Aquatic Invasions 5: 185-190.
Rinkevich,
Y., Rosner, A., Rabinowitz, C., Lapidot, Z., Moiseeva, E. and Rinkevich, B.
2010. Piwi
positive cells that line the vasculature epithelium,
underlie whole body regeneration in a basal chordate. Developmental Biology 345:
94–104.
Rius,
M., Branch, G. M., Griffiths, C. L. and Turon, X. 2010. Larval settlement
behaviour in six gregarious ascidians in relation to adult distribution.
Marine Ecology Progress Series 418: 151–163.
Roch,
G. J. and Sherwood, N. M. 2010.
Genomics reveal ancient forms of stanniocalcin in amphioxus and tunicate.
Integrative and Comparative Biology 50: 86-97.
Rocha,
R. M., Cangussu, L. C. and Braga, M. P. 2010. Stationary substrates facilitate
bioinvasion in Paranagua Bay in southern Brazil. Brazilian Journal of
Oceanography 58: 23-28.
Romanenko,
L. A., Kalinovskaya, N. I. and Mikhailov, V. V. 2001. Taxonomic composition and biological
activity of microorganisms associated with a marine ascidian Halocynthia aurantium. Russian Journal
of Marine Biology 27: 291-296.
Saffo,
M. B., McCoy, A. M., Rieken, C. and Slamovits, C. H. 2010. Nephromyces, a beneficial apicomplexan
symbiont in marine animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 107: 16190-16195.
Sanamyan,
K., Schories, D. and Sanamyan, N. 2010. New records of aplousobranch ascidians
from Central Chile. Zootaxa 2537: 58–68.
Schmidt,
E. W. and Donia, M. S. 2010. Life in cellulose houses: symbiotic bacterial
biosynthesis of ascidian drugs and drug leads. Current Opinion in Biotechnology
21: 827-833.
Sherrard,
K., Robin, F., Lemaire, P. and Munro, E. 2010. Sequential activation of apical and
basolateral contractility drives ascidian endoderm invagination. Current
Biology 20: 1499-1510.
Silvestre,
F., Gallo, A., Cuomo, A., Covino, T. and Tosti, E. 2010. Role of cyclic AMP
in the maturation of Ciona intestinalis
oocytes. Zygote epub: 1-7.
Sirenko,
B. I. 2009. Main differences in macrobenthos and benthic
communities of the Arctic and Antarctic, as illustrated by comparison of the
Laptev and Weddell Sea faunas. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 35:
445-453.
Smith,
K. F., Cahill, P. L. and Fidler, A. E. 2010. First record of the
solitary ascidian Ciona savignyi Herdman,
1882 in the Southern Hemisphere. Aquatic Invasions 5 (4): 363-368
Sorte,
C. J., Williams, S. L. and Zerebecki, R. A. 2010. Ocean warming increases threat of
invasive species in a marine fouling community. Ecology 91: 2198-2204.
Stolfi,
A., Gainous, T. B., Young, J. J., Mori, A., Levine, M. and Christiaen, L. 2010. Early chordate
origins of the vertebrate second heart field. Science 329:
565-568.
Sugumaran,
M. and Robinson, W. E. 2010.
Bioactive dehydrotyrosyl and dehydrodopyl compounds of marine
origin. Marine Drugs 8: 2906-2935.
Sunanaga,
T., Inubushi, H. and Kawamura, K. 2010. Piwi-expressing hemoblasts serve as germline stem cells
during postembryonic germ cell specification in colonial ascidian, Botryllus primigenus. Development Growth
& Differentiation 52: 603-614.
Sutherland,
K. R., Madin, L. P. and Stocker, R. 2010. Filtration of submicrometer particles
by pelagic tunicates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107:
15129-15134.
Tadesse,
M., Strom, M. B., Svenson, J., Jaspars, M., Milne, B. F., Torfoss, V.,
Andersen, J. H., Hansen, E., Stensvag, K. and Haug, T. 2010. Synoxazolidinones A and B: novel
bioactive alkaloids from the ascidian Synoicum
pulmonaria. Organic Letters 12: 4752-4755.
Takahashi,
Y., Ishiyama, H., Kubota, T. and Kobayashi, J. 2010. Eudistomidin G, a new beta-carboline
alkaloid from the Okinawan marine tunicate Eudistoma
glaucus and structure revision of eudistomidin B. Bioorganic &
Medicinal Chemistry Letters 20: 4100-4103.
Takatori,
N., Kumano, G., Saiga, H. and Nishida, H. 2010. Segregation of germ layer fates
by nuclear migration-dependent localization of Not
mRNA. Developmental Cell 19: 589-598.
Tamilselvi,
M., Sivakumar, V., Ali, H. A. J. and Thilaga, R. D. 2010. Preparation of
pickle from Herdmania pallida, simple
ascidian. World Journal of Dairy & Food Sciences 5: 88-92.
Tatián,
M. and Lagger, C. 2010.
Ascidiacea. In Fauna Marina
Bentónica de la Patagonia Chilena”/”Marine Benthic Fauna of Chilean
Patagonia". Häussermann, V. and Forsterra, G. Nature
in Focus, ISBN 978-956-332-243-9/ 978-956-332-244-6, Santiago, Chile. 1000 pp.
Tatián,
M., Schwindt, E., Lagger, C. and Varela, M. M. 2010. Colonization of
Patagonian harbours (SW Atlantic) by an invasive sea squirt (Chordata,
Ascidiacea). Spixiana 33: 111-117. [Ascidiella aspersa]
Terakado,
K. 2010. Generation of prolactin-like neurons in the dorsal
strand of ascidians. Zoological Science 27: 581–588.
Terakubo,
H. Q., Nakajima, Y., Sasakura, Y., Horie, T., Konno, A., Takahashi, H., Inaba,
K., Hotta, K. and Oka, K. 2010.
Network structure of projections extending from peripheral
neurons in the tunic of ascidian larva. Developmental Dynamics 239:
2278-2287.
Tetsukawa,
A., Nakamura, J. and Fujiwara, S. 2010. Identification of
chondroitin/dermatan sulfotransferases in the protochordate, Ciona intestinalis. Comparative
Biochemistry and Physiology B 157: 205-212.
Tovar-Hernández,
M. A., Suárez-Morales, E. and Yáńez-Rivera, B. 2010. The parasitic
copepod Haplostomides hawaiiensis
(Cyclopoida) from the invasive ascidian Polyclinum
constellatum in the southern Gulf of California. Bulletin of Marine
Science 86: 637-648.
Tsagkogeorga,
G., Turon, X., Galtier, N., Douzery, E. J. P. and Delsuc, F. 2010. Accelerated
evolutionary rate of housekeeping genes in tunicates. Journal of
Molecular Evolution 71: 153–167.
Willis,
J. E., Stewart-Clark, S., Greenwood, S. J., Davidson, J. and Quijon, P. 2011. A PCR-based assay to facilitate early detection of Diplosoma listerianum in Atlantic
Canada. Aquatic Invasions 6: in press.
Yamada,
S., Ueno, N., Satoh, N. and Takahashi, H. 2010. Ciona intestinalis Noto4
contains a phosphotyrosine interaction domain and is involved in the midline
intercalation of notochord cells. International Journal of
Developmental Biology epub.
Yin,
S., Cullinane, C., Carroll, A. R., Quinn, R. J. and Davis, R. A. 2010. Botryllamides K and
L, new tyrosine derivatives from the Australian ascidian Aplidium altarium. Tetrahedron Letters 51: 3403-3405.
Yin,
S., Boyle, G. M., Carroll, A. R., Kotiw, M., Dearnaley, J., Quinn, R. J. and
Davis, R. A. 2010.
Caelestines A-D, brominated quinolinecarboxylic acids from the Australian
ascidian Aplidium caelestis. Journal
of Natural Products 73: 1586-1589.
Yokota,
N., Harada, Y. and Sawada, H. 2010. Identification of testis-specific
ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Molecular Reproduction and Development 77:
640-647.
Yoneda,
M., Nakamura, T., Murai, M. and Wada, H. 2010. Evidence for the
heparin-binding ability of the ascidian Xlink domain and insight into the
evolution of the Xlink domain in chordates. Journal of Molecular
Evolution 71: 51-59.
Zeller,
R. W. 2010. Computational analysis of Ciona intestinalis operons. Integrative and Comparative
Biology 50: 75-85.
Zhan,
A., Macisaac, H. J. and Cristescu, M. E. 2010. Invasion genetics of the Ciona intestinalis species complex: from
regional endemism to global homogeneity. Molecular Ecology 19:
4678-4694.
Zvyagintsev,
A. Y. 2003. Introduction of species into the northwestern Sea
of Japan and the problem of marine fouling. Russian Journal of Marine
Biology 29: S10–S21.
Zvyagintsev,
A. Y., Korn, O. M. and Kulikova, V. A. 2004. Seasonal dynamics
of pelagic larvae and settling of the fouling organisms in conditions of
thermal pollution. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 30: 266–277.
Zvyagintsev, D., Sanamyan, K. E. and
Kashenko, S. D. 2007. On the introduction of the ascidian Ciona savignyi Herdman, 1882 into Peter the Great Bay, Sea of
Japan. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 33: 133-136.