Photosensitivity, circadian rhythm and sophisticated neurons revealed by a deep-sea Venus flytrap sea anemone genome

The Venus flytrap sea anemones <em>Actinoscyphia</em> live in the deep-sea environment. Different from other sea anemones, <em>Actinoscyphia</em> show specialized morphology with complete bisymmetry. Moreover, their pedal discs possess unusual abilities to stand upright and flexibly seizuring other objects. To understand the ecological success of this special species, we sequenced the genome of a deep-sea anemone <em>Actinoscyphia</em> sp. collected from 1,403 m on the Kocebu Guyot and focused on their photosensitivity, circadian rhythm and nervous system.

捕蝇海葵属（*Actinoscyphia*）物种栖息于深海环境。与其他海葵不同，*Actinoscyphia*具有特化的形态结构，呈现完全双对称特征。此外，其足盘具备罕见的直立能力，可灵活抓取其他物体。为解析该特殊类群的生态成功机制，我们对采自科塞布海山（Kocebu Guyot）1403米水深的深海海葵*Actinoscyphia* sp.进行了基因组测序，并重点研究了其光敏感性、昼夜节律与神经系统。