Collaborative research: comparing the roles of conserved and novel molecular building blocks underlying kleptocnidy in nudibranch gastropods

The National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology awarded The American Museum of Natural History $751,513 on July 1, 2026, under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to investigate how kleptocnidy—the theft and storage of nematocysts (stinging structures) from cnidarian prey—evolved as a biological innovation in nudibranch sea slugs.

The research will determine whether kleptocnidy arose through specialization or loss of function of conserved phagocytosis pathways, an ancient cellular process used across animals for immune defense and intracellular digestion. The project will generate high-quality genomic, transcriptomic, and single-cell data resources for marine invertebrates, creating strategic biological data assets for the broader scientific community with applications in biotechnology, evolutionary biology, comparative immunology, and cell biology.

The award supports training of graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers in genomics and computational analysis through research experiences, and includes public engagement activities to broaden participation in science and contribute to a competitive STEM workforce in molecular tools and biotechnology.

Performance period runs through June 30, 2029, with work conducted in New York, New York.

Abstract

Understanding how new biological traits arise is a fundamental question in evolutionary biology, with broad implications for explaining the origins of biodiversity, predicting how organisms respond to environmental change, and advancing biotechnology innovation. Most research into evolutionary novelty has focused on traits that arise through the gain of new genes or pathways; far less is known about how the loss or modification of existing pathways can generate novelty. This project investigates the process of kleptocnidy, which is the theft and storage of microscopic stinging structures (nematocysts) from cnidarian prey, a striking natural example of biological innovation that has evolved independently multiple times. The research will determine whether this unique process evolved in nudibranch sea slugs through specialization of phagocytosis, an ancient cellular process used across animals for immune defense and intracellular digestion. By generating high-quality genomic, transcriptomic, and single-cell data resources for marine invertebrates, the project produces strategic biological data assets useful to the broader scientific community for biotechnology applications and the development of fundamental knowledge across evolutionary biology, comparative immunology, and cell biology. This project will also support the training of graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers in genomics and computational analysis through research experiences and will broaden participation in science through public engagement activities. Overall, these efforts will contribute substantially to the training of a competitive stem workforce in molecular tools and biotechnology. This collaborative project tests whether kleptocnidy evolved primarily through specialization (loss of function) of conserved phagocytosis pathways or through the origin of new molecular machinery. Three objectives integrate complementary approaches across two laboratory-tractable nudibranch species, berghia stephanieae and hermissenda opalescens. Objective 1 characterizes the molecular processes underlying kleptocnidy in adult hermissenda using RNA-sequencing of cerata tissues under cnidarian and non-cnidarian feeding regimes, paired with pharmacological inhibition assays targeting candidate phagocytosis pathways. Objective 2 reconstructs the regulatory networks involved in the development of the cnidophage, which is the specialized cell type that captures and stores nematocysts, using single-cell RNA-sequencing across early juvenile berghia development, with in situ hybridization chain reaction validation, to test whether cnidophages develop through pathways conserved with generalist phagocytic cells. Objective 3 evaluates the role of lineage-specific (?novel?) genes through comparative differential expression and orthology analyses across approximately 20 cladobranch nudibranch species, including independent origins of nematocyst sequestration, collected from california and french polynesia. Outputs will include a new reference genome, single-cell atlases, gene CO-expression and regulatory networks, and a phylogenetically informed catalog of conserved versus lineage-specific genes underlying a charismatic case of evolutionary innovation, while providing foundational genomic resources for an emerging marine invertebrate model system. The results of this work will improve our understanding of the evolution of novelty. 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.- subawards are not planned for this award.