BookMalgorzata Kloc, Jacek Z. Kubiak, editors.
Summary: This book highlights the potential advantages of using marine invertebrates like tunicates, echinoderms, sponges and cephalopods as models in both biological and medical research. Bioactive compounds found in marine organisms possess antibacterial, antifungal, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, and can affect the immune and nervous systems. Despite substantial research on the medicinal attributes of various marine invertebrates, they are still very much underrepresented in scientific literature: the majority of cell, developmental and evolutionary scientific journals only publish research conducted on a few well-known model systems like Drosophila melanogaster or Xenopus laevis. Addressing that gap, this book introduces readers to new model organisms like starfish or nemertera. By showing their benefits with regard to regeneration, stem cell research and Evo-Devo, the authors provide a cross-sectional view encompassing various disciplines of biological research. As such, this book will not only appeal to scientists currently working on marine organisms, but will also inspire future generations to pursue research of their own.
Contents:
Part 1. Gametes, Maturation, Fertilization and Modes of Reproduction
1. Marine nemertean worms for studies of oocyte maturation and aging
2. Sperm Nuclear Basic Proteins of Marine Invertebrates
3. Fertilization in Starfish and Sea Urchin: Roles of Actin
4. Starfish as a Model System for Analyzing Signal Transduction during Fertilization
5. Towards multiscale modeling of molecular and biochemical events occurring at fertilization time in sea urchins
6. Monosex in Aquaculture
Part 2. Embryonic and Post-embryonic Development, and the Evolution of the Body Plan
7. Medusa: A review of an ancient cnidarian body form
8. Sea urchin larvae as a model for post-embryonic development
9. The Ciona notochord gene regulatory network
10. Model Systems for Exploring the Evolutionary Origins of the Nervous System
11. Non-protein-coding RNAs as regulators of development in tunicates
Part 3. Differentiation, Regeneration and Stemness --12. Differentiation and transdifferentiation of sponge cells
13. Holothurians as a model system to study regeneration
14. Regeneration in stellate echinoderms: Crinoidea, Asteroidea, and Ophiuroidea
15. Solitary ascidians as model organisms in regenerative biology studies
16. Whole-body regeneration in the colonial tunicate Botrylloides leachii
Part 4. Biomolecules, Secretion, Symbionts and Feeding
17. Beach to Bench to Bedside: Marine Invertebrate Biochemical Adaptations and their Applications in Biotechnology and Biomedicine
18. Coral Food, Feeding, Nutrition and Secretion: A Review
19. The suitability of fishes as models for studying appetitive behavior in vertebrates
20. Glycans with Antiviral Activity from Marine Organisms
21. Cnidarian jellyfish: ecological aspects, nematocyst isolation and treatment methods of sting
22. These Colors Don't Run: Regulation of Pigment Biosynthesis in Echinoderms
Part 5. Bioinformatics, Bioengineering and Information Processing
23. Reef building corals as a tool for climate change research in the genomics era
24. The crown-of-thorns starfish: from coral reef plague to model system
25. Structures and composition of the crab carapace - an archetypal material in biomimetic mechanical design
26. Octopus vulgaris: an alternative in evolution
27. Vision made easy: cubozoans can advance our understanding of systems level visual information processing.
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