Rentzsch Group
Neural Development in Cnidaria

One of the fundamental steps in the evolution of multicellular animals was the emergence of the nervous system. The central elements that constitute a simple nervous system are sensory structures connected to a specific cell type, the neuron, which can in turn evoke the response of effector cells, e.g. muscle cells. How these central elements arose during evolution and which molecular pathways govern their development is currently poorly understood. Research in the group addresses these questions by studying the molecular basis of the development of the apical organ (an ancient sensory structure), and of synapses (the specific neuronal structure for intercellular communication) in a basal metazoan, the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis.

Cnidarians are one of the evolutionary oldest metazoan phyla that possess a nervous system. Due to the combination of an ancestral body plan and technical advances the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis has recently been established as the leading cnidarian model for embryonic development. Its genome and a large number of ESTs have been sequenced; in situ hybridization, gene knockdown by morpholino antisense oligonucleotides, overexpression by mRNA or plasmid injection and stable transgenesis are available.

Our recent work has shown that FGF signaling plays a crucial role in the formation of the apical organ. We are now using these findings to identify additional elements of the gene regulatory network that controls apical organ formation and analyze their functional interactions.

We are also interested in the evolutionary origin of axons and synapses. Using candidate genes as well as unbiased approaches we are trying to determine how these complex structures develop in Nematostella.