Temnopleurus as an emerging echinoderm model

Sea urchins have played important roles in cell and developmental biology. They have the potential to be even more useful as models if the ability to create transgenic animals and maintain genetic lines are developed. Here, I describe the methods to produce next-generation lines using a newly introduced sea urchin model, Temnopleurus reevesii, in the laboratory. The embryos of T. reevesii have wide range of temperature tolerance between 15°C to 30°C and have high transparency, which can be a strong point in live-imaging and fluorescent immunohistochemistry. I describe how to grow and culture the embryos/larvae/juveniles/adults of T. reevesii to address the challenge of establishing inbred strains followed by introducing genetics into this species in the future.