The Next Phase of Ctenophore Diversity, Taxonomy, and Phylogenetics

Ctenophores (comb jellies) are simultaneously obscure and en vogue. Relatively few people have seen a live ctenophore, especially from the deep sea, yet ctenophores have been targeted for an increasing number of transcriptome and genome studies, in part because they are central to the discussion of the origin of animals. We have been studying ctenophore diversity, morphology, physiology, bioluminescence, taxonomy, biogeography, trophic dynamics, genomics, and phylogenetics as part of our NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity project titled DEEPC. For taxonomy we aim to apply geometric morphometrics to account for their plasticity of form, while using population genetics methods to reveal cryptic speciation and hybridization. Transcriptomes give us a robust within-phylum tree of relationships, which complements the selected markers that we apply to examine relationships across the full range of ctenophore diversity. The transcriptomes and selected genomes let us probe the evolutionary origins of bioluminescence and physiological adaptation to the rigors of deep-ocean habitats. By combining these results with novel culturing methods, we can conduct experiments and test hypotheses that would not typically be feasible for such non-model organisms. We strive to make the tools that we develop during this research publicly available and more broadly applicable. We will introduce some of the newly discovered deep-sea comb jellies, present a combination of the approaches used, and examine the corresponding lessons learned about these spectacular gelatinous organisms.