About the Cover
Cover
The “virtual” symposium in this issue, “Genomics of Large Marine Metazoans,” collects current research on the gene catalogs and genomic structure of marine organisms. This emerging dimension of marine science is sure to become more fully populated as the cost of genome sequencing decreases. The cover shows in a small way the huge variety of organisms that exist in the many corners of the marine habitat. Each of these varied organisms represents a solution to the problem of living in its environment. These “natural experiments,” or evolutionary outcomes, are often very clearly documented within the genome of each organism.
The images: The individual panels depict some of the animals considered in the symposium papers. The background is a microscope field of four-cell lamprey embryos (Petromyzon marinus), each of which has been injected with a fluorescent marker in one cell at the two-cell stage. The central panel shows two adult star anemones, Nematostella vectensis; one is undergoing asexual division and the other has a clutch of spawned eggs nearby. Clockwise from top: a hydrothermal vent tubeworm, Ridgeia piscesae, with the anterior region emerging from the tube. The late larval stage of a sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. The interior of the brood chamber of a sponge, Amphimedon queenslandica, showing embryos in the early phases of development. An adult of an enteropneust worm, Saccoglossus kowalevskii.
Photo credits: Petromyzon marinus, Tatjana Sauka- Spengler (California Institute of Technology); Nematostella vectensis, Adam Reitzel (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution); Ridgeia piscesae, Peter Batson (Deep Ocean Expeditions, Inc.); Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, Jonathan Rast (University of Toronto); Amphimedon queenslandica, Bryony Fahey (University of Queensland); Saccoglossus kowalevskii, Chris Lowe (University of Chicago).
Cover design: Beth Liles (Marine Biological Laboratory).
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Copyright © 2008 by the Marine Biological Laboratory.
