Cool temperature inhibits binary fission and results in phenotypic and transcriptomic changes that suggest inducible...

Here we report initial observations and bioinformatics analysis suggesting that the sea anemone Diadumene lineata can be induced to age when cultured at 16^oC. Inducible aging may make D. lineata a useful experimental model for aging studies. This research stemmed from a published study of D. lineata that did not involve or report on inducible aging.

Anemones cultured at 16^oC displayed several signs of aging not evident when cultured at room temperature (21^oC), including the cessation of binary fission, growth to a much larger size, a progressive reduction in the consumption of prey, and ultimately, shriveling. Re-analysis of published RNA-seq data identified 2,824 differentially expressed putative genes in anemones cultured at 16^oC vs. room temperature. Functional enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes is consistent with an aging phenotype at 16^oC, and suggests that the 16^oC anemones may undergo gametogenesis prior to the development of senescence. A significant increase in somatic single nucleotide polymorphisms also occurred at 16^oC.