Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume – Introductory lectures
Topic 2: MARINE ORGANISMS AND ECOSYSTEMS AS MODEL SYSTEMS
F. BOERO, G. BAVESTRELLO * , S. PIRAINO
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche e Ambientali, Università del Salento, Lecce, Italia.
boero@unisalento.it
* Dip. Sci. Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche - 60131 Ancona, Italia.
MARINE BIODIVERSITY AND UNEXPECTED EXPERIMENTAL
MODELS: THE ROLE OF MARINE STATIONS
LA BIODIVERSITÀ MARINA E MODELLI SPERIMENTALI INATTESI:
IL RUOLO DELLE STAZIONI MARINE
Abstract - Experimental organisms are used to elucidate basic processes regarding the manifold features of
the structure and function of living beings. Each model satisfies the particular needs of specific fields of
investigation. Suitability to experimental manipulation and easy reproduction under laboratory conditions
are common features of experimental model systems. These features allow selection of genetically related
strains and continuous availability of experimental organisms. These characteristics, however, are not
common to most species being, on the contrary, rather exceptional. Animals like the zebrafish, Drosophila,
Coenorabditis, Hydra and, of course, mice and rabbits, are exceptional, hence the paradox that we infer
about rules from information obtained from exceptions!
Marine stations, first of all the Zoological Station of Naples, were founded for two main reasons: study
biodiversity, and provide organisms for experimental biology. These organisms do not need being kept
under laboratory conditions, they can be obtained from natural populations in the vicinity of the station, as
exemplified by two striking cases: the sea anemone Anemonia sulcata leading to the discovery of
anaphylaxis, and the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, leading to the isolation of the Green Fluorescent Protein.
Studies on both organisms led to Nobel Prizes, namely Richet in 1913 and Shimomura, Chalfie and Tsien in
2008, respectively. In both cases large amounts of specimens were obtained from natural populations
sampled in the surroundings of the Station Biologique de Roscoff in Brittany for Anemonia and of the
Friday Harbor Laboratories, a Marine Station in Washington State, for Aequorea. In the end of the XIX
century, August Weissman developed his general theory on the early segregation of the germ-line while
working on colonies of the hydrozoan Eudendrium racemosum, continuously supplied by the fishery service
at the Stazione Zoologica A. Dohrn. A similar case is the “immortal jellyfish”, Turritopsis dohrnii, a
species with the unique ability of reversing its life cycle and, hence, a beautiful model for developmental
biology. The species, however, is difficult to rear in the laboratory and is to be sampled from natural
populations, during the months of medusa production.
Salvatore Lo Bianco, an eminent naturalist at the Stazione Zoologica of Naples, in 1909 published a
monograph covering the animal diversity of the Gulf of Naples, reporting, species by species, the locations
where they occurred, the periods of both presence and sexual maturity. That monograph was the catalogue
of experimental animals for the biologists visiting the Station, but is also a precious account on the
biodiversity of the Gulf of Naples, covering also the phenology of the species. This information can become
a benchmark for studies on the impact of global change.
The use of a limited number of model animals is depriving experimental biology of organisms that might be
conducive to important discoveries: the exploration of biodiversity and of the natural history of the species
can lead to the unravelling of many biological questions, but this cannot be planned in advance. The limited
diversity of model animals is to be implemented with new models, with mutual benefit of both biodiversity
studies and experimental approaches. Many unexpected novelties are waiting to be discovered, if we only
were able to look for them.
Key-words: biodiversity, model organisms, experimental biology.
41 st S.I.B.M. CONGRESS Rapallo (GE), 7-11 June 2010
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