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Fig. 4 | BMC Evolutionary Biology

Fig. 4

From: Do novel genes drive morphological novelty? An investigation of the nematosomes in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

Fig. 4

Nematosomes comprise multiple cell types. a A single DIC optical section through an isolated nematosome in which two types of cnidocyte are abundant: basitrichous isorhizas (b) characterized by a thin shaft extending nearly the full length of the capsule, and microbasic-p-mastigophores (m) which have a thick shaft that extends only half the length of the capsule and has a distinctive V-shaped notch [18]. Ciliary cones are visible (arrows) at the apex of two mastigophores and several long cilia (arrowheads) can be seen emerging from the perimeter of the tissue. b A 3D rendering of a confocal z-stack through a nematosome indicating nuclei (labeled with 1 μM DAPI; green). Nuclei in cnidocytes often appear semi-lunar in shape (arrows) as they conform to the shape of the cnidocyst capsule. c A 3D rendering of a confocal z-stack through another single nematosome showing the presence of abundant mature cnidocytes (labeled with 143 μM DAPI; blue). d The numbers of nuclei (an indicator of total cell number; closed circles) and cnidocytes (open circles) in individual nematosomes increase as a function of nematosome diameter but these relationships differ across the range of nematosomes studied (nuclei slope: 2.72, cnidocyte slope: 1.34; p < 0.001 ANCOVA). All scale bars represent 10 μm

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