Was innate immunity already complex in early animals?
Anthozoan cnidarians retain much ancestral metazoan immune/signaling complexity; flies and worms lost many components.
Source
The innate immune repertoire in cnidaria--ancestral complexity and stochastic gene loss
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Was innate immunity already complex in early animals?
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What is the innate immune system’s role?
innate immune system is the first line of defense against pathogens, and in non-chordates is assumed to be the sole means by which any non-self cells are detected and either killed or contained [].
Which cnidarians are highlighted?
cnidarians Acropora millepora and Nematostella vectensis [,] and the planarian Dugesia japonica [].
What they did
Surveyed innate-immunity gene families in cnidarian genomes/ESTs (Acropora, Nematostella) versus bilaterian models.
What they found
Morphologically simple cnidarians preserve much ancestral complexity (e.g., Wnt/immune-related pathways); Drosophila/C. elegans show extensive gene loss; understanding cnidarian immunity also matters for coral decline.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Does not functionally prove every predicted receptor’s ligand in vivo.
Key terms
- Innate immunity
- Immediate, germline-encoded pathogen defense.
- Cnidaria
- Phylum including corals, sea anemones, jellyfish.
- Gene loss
- Secondary disappearance of ancestral genes in a lineage.
- TLR
- Toll-like receptor sensing microbes.
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Cnidarian genomes are
Common questions
Are cnidarians genetically simple?
No—they preserve much ancestral complexity.
What did flies/worms lose?
Large fractions of ancestral gene sets (e.g., Wnts).
Why applied interest?
Coral immunity amid reef decline.
Key taxa?
Acropora and Nematostella.
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