Mnemiopsis leidyi

Photo Bruno C. Vellutini CC BY-SA 3.0

Mnemiopsis leidyi (pronounced Knee-me-op-cis lady-eye), also known as the sea walnut, is a species of ctenophore from the western Atlantic Ocean. This was the first ctenophore species to have its genome sequenced, assembled, and published. This publication, lead by Dr. Joseph F. Ryan, found evidence that ctenophores are the sister group to the rest of the animals, and the Mnemiopsis lacks many genes involved in bilaterian cell development.

The genome size of M. leidyi is approximately 150 Mb.

Resources

The authoritative source for information on the Mnemiopsis leidyi genome can be found at the National Human Genome Research Institute Mnemiopsis Genome Project Portal.

Publications

The following are select papers about Mnemiopsis leidyi. They are arranged by topic. This list is by no means exhaustive – please contact us if you have a paper to add.

Publications – Genomics and Evolution

  1. Ryan, J.F., Pang, K., Schnitzler, C.E., Nguyen, A.D., Moreland, R.T., Simmons, D.K., Koch, B.J., Francis, W.R., Havlak, P., Smith, S.A. and Putnam, N.H., 2013. The genome of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi and its implications for cell type evolution. Science, 342(6164).
  2. Ryan, J.F., Pang, K., Mullikin, J.C., Martindale, M.Q., Baxevanis, A.D. and NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, 2010. The homeodomain complement of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi suggests that Ctenophora and Porifera diverged prior to the ParaHoxozoa. Evodevo, 1(1), p.9.
  3. Pang, K., Ryan, J.F., Mullikin, J.C., Baxevanis, A.D., Martindale, M.Q. and NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, 2010. Genomic insights into Wnt signaling in an early diverging metazoan, the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. EvoDevo, 1(1), p.10.
  4. Pang, K., Ryan, J.F., Baxevanis, A.D. and Martindale, M.Q., 2011. Evolution of the TGF-β signaling pathway and its potential role in the ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi. PloS one, 6(9), p.e24152.

Publications – Invasive species

Mnemiopsis leidyi is an invasive species! It was carried in ballast waters from the western Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, then to other bodies of water.

  1. Shiganova, T.A., 1998. Invasion of the Black Sea by the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi and recent changes in pelagic community structure. Fisheries Oceanography, 7(3‐4), pp.305-310.
Scroll Up