[Press Release] GMGI Creates First Genetically Tractable Marine Invertebrate Cell Lines

(Gloucester, MA) A team of GMGI researchers, together with collaborators from Duke University, has achieved a long-sought milestone in marine science: the creation of genetically tractable, continuously growing cell lines from a marine invertebrate. The study, published in Communications Biology, reports stable embryonic cell lines from two species of sea urchins, Lytechinus variegatus and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, unlocking transformative applications from disease research to conservation biology.

“In vitro cell lines are among the most powerful and broadly used tools in biomedical research, but their power has only been realized for a few — predominantly mammalian — species”, said the study’s senior author, Andrea Bodnar, Ph.D., GMGI’s Donald G. Comb Science Director, who pioneered the development of TERT-immortalized human cell lines that have been used for decades in biomedical research. “With these new sea urchin cell lines, we finally have a scalable, genetically accessible marine invertebrate cell culture system.”

A Marine Model Breakthrough

Sea urchins have been indispensable to biology for over a century, revealing fundamental principles of fertilization, cell division, and the gene regulatory networks of early development.  But efforts to culture continuously dividing sea urchin cells have repeatedly failed. The new embryonic cell lines created at GMGI’s research institute not only thrive in culture but also form three-dimensional structures and diverse cell types, mirroring some aspects of natural development.

Using single-cell transcriptomics, the team of researchers identified signatures of stem-like cells along with neurons, muscle cells, pigment cells, and more. Crucially, the researchers demonstrated that these cells can be genetically modified using lentiviral vectors, paving the way for high-throughput testing of gene function.

Far-Reaching Applications

The implications from this study extend well beyond developmental biology. Cultured cell lines provide a platform to probe cellular responses to pathogens, pollutants, and environmental stressors, and will enable new lines of investigation into marine animals as models for biomedical research. For example, some species of sea urchins are incredibly long-lived, with lifespans exceeding 100 years, and no reported cases of cancer. This new study allows for insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying extreme longevity, negligible aging, and naturally occurring resistance to cancer.

“We aim to use these cultured cell lines as a tool to understand how sea urchin cells resist cancer,” says co-author Riss Kell, Ph.D., GMGI Postdoctoral Scientist, who is studying the sea urchin’s natural cancer protection strategies.

A Framework for the Ocean’s Hidden Diversity

Beyond sea urchins, the methods described offer a roadmap for developing cell lines from other non-model marine invertebrates, from corals to crustaceans, expanding the reach of cell biology into the vast and largely untapped diversity of the oceans. “We are thrilled to provide the research community with a powerful new tool for mechanistic discovery in biology, ecology, and environmental science,” said Dr. Bodnar.