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JPR Advance Access originally published online on January 16, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(4):359-370; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbn132
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© 2009 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Culture optimization for the emergent zooplanktonic model organism Oikopleura dioica

Jean-Marie Bouquet1, Endy Spriet1{dagger}, Christofer Troedsson1,2, Helen Otterå1, Daniel Chourrout1 and Eric M. Thompson1,*

1 Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Thormøhlensgate 55, N-5008 Bergen, Norway 2 Department of Biology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: eric.thompson{at}sars.uib.no

Received on October 23, 2008; accepted on December 14, 2008


  Abstract

The pan-global marine appendicularian, Oikopleura dioica, shows considerable promise as a candidate model organism for cross-disciplinary research ranging from chordate genetics and evolution to molecular ecology research. This urochordate, has a simplified anatomical organization, remains transparent throughout an exceptionally short life cycle of less than 1 week and exhibits high fecundity. At 70 Mb, the compact, sequenced genome ranks among the smallest known metazoan genomes, with both gene regulatory and intronic regions highly reduced in size. The organism occupies an important trophic role in marine ecosystems and is a significant contributor to global vertical carbon flux. Among the short list of bona fide biological model organisms, all share the property that they are amenable to long-term maintenance in laboratory cultures. Here, we tested diet regimes, spawn densities and dilutions and seawater treatment, leading to optimization of a detailed culture protocol that permits sustainable long-term maintenance of O. dioica, allowing continuous, uninterrupted production of source material for experimentation. The culture protocol can be quickly adapted in both coastal and inland laboratories and should promote rapid development of the many original research perspectives the animal offers.

{dagger} Present address: Molecular Imaging Center, Department of Biomedicine, Jonas Lies vei 91, N-5009 Bergen.

Corresponding editor: Roger Harris


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C. Troedsson, J.-M. Bouquet, R. Skinnes, J.-L. Acuna, K. Zech, M. E. Frischer, and E. M. Thompson
Regulation of filter-feeding house components in response to varying food regimes in the appendicularian, Oikopleura dioica
J. Plankton Res., December 1, 2009; 31(12): 1453 - 1463.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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