Cassiosomes are stinging-cell structures in the mucus of the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana

Cassiosomes are stinging-cell structures in the mucus of the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana

Snorkelers in mangrove forest waters inhabited by the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana report discomfort due to a sensation known as stinging water, the cause of which is unknown. Using a combination of histology, microscopy, microfluidics, videography, molecular biology, and mass spectrome...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications biology Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 67
Main Authors: Ames, Cheryl L., Klompen, Anna M. L., Badhiwala, Krishna, Muffett, Kade, Reft, Abigail J., Kumar, Mehr, Janssen, Jennie D., Schultzhaus, Janna N., Field, Lauren D., Muroski, Megan E., Bezio, Nick, Robinson, Jacob T., Leary, Dagmar H., Cartwright, Paulyn, Collins, Allen G., Vora, Gary J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13-02-2020
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
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Animals
Biology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Bites and Stings
Cassiopea xamachana
Cassiopeidae
Dinoflagellata
Dinoflagellates
Immunohistochemistry
Life Sciences
Mangrove swamps
Mass spectroscopy
Microfluidics
Microorganisms
Mucus
Mucus - metabolism
Prey
Proteomics
Scyphozoa - anatomy & histology
Scyphozoa - cytology
Scyphozoa - physiology
Scyphozoa - ultrastructure
Toxins, Biological
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Summary:Snorkelers in mangrove forest waters inhabited by the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana report discomfort due to a sensation known as stinging water, the cause of which is unknown. Using a combination of histology, microscopy, microfluidics, videography, molecular biology, and mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we describe C. xamachana stinging-cell structures that we term cassiosomes. These structures are released within C. xamachana mucus and are capable of killing prey. Cassiosomes consist of an outer epithelial layer mainly composed of nematocytes surrounding a core filled by endosymbiotic dinoflagellates hosted within amoebocytes and presumptive mesoglea. Furthermore, we report cassiosome structures in four additional jellyfish species in the same taxonomic group as C. xamachana (Class Scyphozoa; Order Rhizostomeae), categorized as either motile (ciliated) or nonmotile types. This inaugural study provides a qualitative assessment of the stinging contents of C. xamachana mucus and implicates mucus containing cassiosomes and free intact nematocytes as the cause of stinging water. Cheryl L Ames, Anna Klompen et al. describe cassiosomes, stinging cell structures in the mucus of the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana . They show that these motile cell masses consist of an outer epithelial layer largely composed of nematocytes surrounding centralized clusters of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates.
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ISSN:2399-3642
2399-3642
DOI:10.1038/s42003-020-0777-8