Sessile Marine Metazoa
Oysters
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12915-023-01706-y
Only marine animals with a chalky layer in shells
Keystone species
Can change sex
Filter over 2 gallons per hour
Cyclic and hypoxic stresses in oysters https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-60261-w
Coral reefs
Corals often in symbiosis with algae, facilitating nutrient exchange
Rising temperature -> loss of symbiosis -> reef bleaching
Death of reefs (large ecosystems)
Symbiosis involves mitochondria
Freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demosponge
Filter feeding
Maybe related to cabin lake sponge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spongilla_lacustris
Nematostella
Body size plasticity
Arabidopsis mtDNA diversity
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-025-03717-0
Repairing mtDNA damage and longevity
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.adk7978
Several of these also have capacity for mtDNA recombination and repair, with e.g. msh1 or mgm101. Msh1 in corals is a rare example of gene gain. Perhaps they maintain this capacity because as sessile organisms they’re exposed to mtDNA mutagens? Some more ideas in the attached review
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