Collaborative Research: RUI: Beyond Colloblasts: Fast-acting predation for trophic success in ctenophores

Ctenophores, commonly called comb jellies, are gelatinous animals that are significant predators in the world’s oceans. Because of their key predatory role in ocean ecosystems, it is important to understand how they capture prey in order to fully comprehend how they impact ocean food webs. Ctenophores are commonly thought to use sticky cells, called colloblasts, to capture prey.

However, previous observations provide strong evidence suggesting that ctenophores use neurotoxic chemicals to anesthetize their prey and that this is the primary mechanism they use to capture and ingest prey. This study will investigate the role of these neurotoxic chemicals for prey capture by ctenophores by quantifying (a) how these chemicals incapacitate prey, (b) how common these chemicals are among different types of ctenophores, and (c) how effective these chemicals are on different types of prey.

The project is expected to yield a transformative understanding of the mechanisms behind the remarkable success of a group of seemingly fragile marine predators that are unusually successful at capturing evasive prey. Understanding these toxins may open new opportunities for therapies and drug discoveries. In fact, it is likely this research will introduce a novel class of reversible anesthetic compounds.

The nature of the research will foster engagement of many students in marine science, chemistry, and biomedicine.

Ctenophores, dominant marine zooplankton in coastal and oceanic ecosystems, can significantly impact global food webs through top-down control of zooplankton populations. Traditionally, their predatory success was attributed to adhesive cells (colloblasts) used for prey capture. However, new evidence reveals that ctenophores primarily rely on neurotoxic chemicals in their mucus to anesthetize prey, reshaping our understanding of their feeding strategies and prey selection.

This project aims to investigate how ctenophore mucus toxins incapacitate prey, toxin prevalence across ctenophore species, and their effectiveness on various prey types. Objectives include: (a) measuring mucus effects on different prey taxa, (b) assessing how mucus influences prey retention and selection in target species, (c) determining the taxonomic distribution of toxic mucus among ctenophores, and (d) exploring the mechanistic basis of prey immobilization via mucus-ion channel interactions.

This research is expected to yield a transformative understanding of the mechanisms behind the remarkable success of ctenophores that are unusually successful at capturing evasive prey. Understanding the action of ctenophore mucus toxins may open new opportunities for therapies and drug discoveries. In fact, it is likely this research will introduce a novel class of reversible anesthetic compounds.

The nature of the research will foster engagement of many students from marine science to chemistry to biomedicine.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.