Establishing and maintaining primary cell cultures derived from the ctenophore .

We have developed an efficient method for the preparation and maintenance of primary cell cultures isolated from adult , a lobate ctenophore. Our primary cell cultures are derived from tissue explants or enzymatically dissociated cells, and maintained in a complex undefined ctenophore mesogleal serum. These methods can be used to isolate, maintain and visually monitor ctenophore cells to assess proliferation, cellular morphology and cell differentiation in future studies.

The Presence of a Functionally Tripartite Through-Gut in Ctenophora Has Implications for Metazoan Character Trait Evolution.

The current paradigm of gut evolution assumes that non-bilaterian metazoan lineages either lack a gut (Porifera and Placozoa) or have a sac-like gut (Ctenophora and Cnidaria) and that a through-gut originated within Bilateria [1-8]. An important group for understanding early metazoan evolution is Ctenophora (comb jellies), which diverged very early from the animal stem lineage [9-13]. The perception that ctenophores possess a sac-like blind gut with only one major opening remains a commonly held misconception [4, 5, 7, 14, 15].