Catriona Munro

The jellyfish Clytia hemisphaerica is a powerful model for studying oogenesis, notably because of the simple organisation, transparency, and autonomous function of the gonads. My postdoctoral work specifically focuses on the early meiotic mechanisms in Clytia (paper here). Read more... ( Clytia image by Freya Goetz)

An important challenge in comparative biology is comparing functional genomic data across species. Siphonophores are colonial, consisting of an assemby of complex specialized bodies (termed zooids) that are genetically identical, asexually budded, and are physiologically integrated. Using gene expression data collected from 5 zooids and 1 tissue, I investigated gene expression patterns in homologous zooids/tissues across 7 siphonophore species (paper here). Read more...

Siphonophores are a hydrozoan clade that are found from the ocean surface to the deep sea. Siphonophores are highly complex, functionally specialized, colonial “superorganisms”. In order to investigate the evolution of any trait in siphonophores, including functional specialization, it is essential to have a good, well resolved phylogeny. My work on the phylogenetic relationships within Siphonophora is available here. My work on the development and morphology of the Portuguese man of war is available here.

This project examined the effect of hydrostatic pressure on three different early life stages of the northern stone crab, Lithodes maja; using four genes (two traditional markers of the cellular stress response, one pressure specific gene, and one marker of aerobic capacity) and the respiration rate as markers. We suggest that the acute high pressure tolerance decreases as ontogeny advances. This was my master's thesis work in the Pressure Lab at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton UK. This work is published here.