Investigating Rab11 During Early Developmental Stages In the Cnidarian Nematostella vectensis

Studying the molecular mechanisms underlying development in earlybranching metazoans is of a great importance to understand the evolution of early developmental processes such as gastrulation. Gastrulation is the first morphogenetic process in the embryo. In this study, we investigated the recycling endosome component Rab11 (a member of the small GTPases of the Ras superfamily) during gastrulation in the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Nematostella is a member of the phylum Cnidaria, which is the sister group to the Bilaterians, the group of bilaterally-symmetrical animals such as fruit flies, mice, and humans. Although we know that gastrulation in Nematostella occurs via invagination, the molecular mechanisms underlying it still need to be determined. Previous studies have reported endocytosis at the apical margin of endodermal cells during gastrulation in Nematostella suggesting a possible role for Rab11 in this process. We have identified three Rab11 orthologs, although our preliminary data suggest that only one of them, NvRab11, is expressed in the endoderm, although the expression was not seen until 48 hours of development. Functional data also suggest that Nvrab11 proteins have no effect during gastrulation.