他们吃的越多，他们生长的触手越多，所以今天就喂食海葵！到目前为止，还不清楚是什么调节海葵可以生长的触手数量。
来自EMBL Heidelberg的IKMI小组的科学家表明number of tentacles上海葵是由food consumed. “Controlling the number of tentacle arms by food intake makes the sea anemone behave more like a plant developing new branches than an animal growing a new limb,” explains group leader Aissam Ikmi.
科学家表明，新触角的生长不仅是在海葵是少年的时候，而且在整个成年期都会发生。尽管海葵使用不同的策略在其生活的不同阶段建立触角，但最终的武器看起来都一样。
When Ikmi’s group studied the locations at which the new arms form, they found that muscle cells pre-mark the sites of new tentacles. These muscle cells change their gene expression in response to food. The same molecular signaling employed to build tentacles in sea anemones also exists in many other species — including humans.
尽管这一发现本身是新颖的，但它还表明，传统上用于进化发展研究的海葵非常适合在生物环境相互作用的背景下研究形态发生。
为了建立新触手的分支图，研究人员一一分析了1000多种海葵。梅森·麦克穆伦（Mason McMullen）笑着说：“在某些方面，得分大量的触角本身就是一个故事。”堪萨斯大学卫生系统的临床药剂师麦克穆伦（McMullen）花了几个月的时间对海葵的头部进行成像，以得分其触手号码和位置。
Knowing that the number of tentacles in sea anemones is determined by their food intake, the group plans to define the key nutrients critical to this process. Ikmi and his group also want to further investigate the unconventional role of muscles in defining the sites where new tentacles form. “We’re currently investigating this novel property of muscle cells and are eager to find out the mystery behind them,” he concludes.
