The Atlantic purple sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) is a species of sea urchins from the family Arbaciidae, native to the Atlantic Ocean.
Description
The Atlantic purple sea urchin is a spherical, dark purple-spined sea urchin, with a nearly flat oral face. It can reach up to 8 cm in diameter, and is native to the North Atlantic Ocean.
For more than a century, developmental biologists have valued the sea urchin as an experimental model organism. Sea urchin eggs are transparent and can be manipulated easily in the research laboratory. Their eggs can be easily fertilized and then develop rapidly and synchronously.[6][7]
For decades, the sea urchin embryo has been used to establish the chromosome theory of heredity, the description of centrosomes, parthenogenesis, and fertilization.[8][9][10] Research work during the last 30 years established such important phenomena as stable mRNA and translational control, isolation and characterization of the mitotic apparatus, and the realization that the major structural proteins of the mitotic apparatus are microtubules.[11][12] Sea urchin studies provided the first evidence of actin in nonmuscle cells.[13][14]
^Sharp, D. T.; Gray, I. E. (1962). "Studies on factors affecting the local distribution of two sea urchins, Arbacia punctulata and Lytechinus variegatus". Ecology. 43 (2): 309–313. doi:10.2307/1931986. JSTOR1931986.
^Karlson R (1978). "Predation and space utilization patterns in a marine epifaunal community". J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 31 (3): 225–239. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(78)90060-6.
^ZIMMERMAN AM, MARSLAND D (July 1964). "Cell division: Effects of pressure on the mitotic mechanisms of marine eggs (Arbacia punctulata)". Exp. Cell Res. 35 (2): 293–302. doi:10.1016/0014-4827(64)90096-5. PMID14195437.
^SCOTT A (October 1950). "A cytological analysis of the effects of cyanide and 4,6-dinitro-orthocresol on the mitotic phases in Arbacia punctulata". Biol. Bull. 99 (2): 362–3. doi:10.1086/BBLv99n2p321. PMID14791535.
^Henson JH, Schatten G (1983). "Calcium regulation of the actin-mediated cytoskeletal transformation of sea urchin coelomocytes". Cell Motil.3 (5–6): 525–34. doi:10.1002/cm.970030519. PMID6420068.