Genotyping of Sea Anemone during Early Development

Described here is a PCR-based protocol to genotype the gastrula stage embryo of the anthozoan cnidarian Nematostella vectensis without sacrificing the life of the animal. Following in vitro fertilization and de-jellying, zygotes are allowed to develop for 24 h at room temperature to reach the early- to mid-gastrula stage. The gastrula embryos are then placed on an agarose gel bed in a Petri dish containing seawater. Under the dissecting microscope, a tungsten needle is used to surgically separate an aboral tissue fragment from each embryo. Post-surgery embryos are then allowed to heal and continue development. Genomic DNA is extracted from the isolated tissue fragment and used as a template for locus-specific PCR. The genotype can be determined based on the size of PCR products or presence/absence of allele-specific PCR products. Post-surgery embryos are then sorted according to the genotype. The duration of the entire genotyping process depends on the number of embryos to be screened, but it minimally requires 4–5 h. This method can be used to identify knockout mutants from a genetically heterogeneous population of embryos and enables analyses of phenotypes during development.