1
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Rusin LY. Evolution of homology: From archetype towards a holistic concept of cell type. J Morphol 2023; 284:e21569. [PMID: 36789784 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.21569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
The concept of homology lies in the heart of comparative biological science. The distinction between homology as structure and analogy as function has shaped the evolutionary paradigm for a century and formed the axis of comparative anatomy and embryology, which accept the identity of structure as a ground measure of relatedness. The advent of single-cell genomics overturned the classical view of cell homology by establishing a backbone regulatory identity of cell types, the basic biological units bridging the molecular and phenotypic dimensions, to reveal that the cell is the most flexible unit of living matter and that many approaches of classical biology need to be revised to understand evolution and diversity at the cellular level. The emerging theory of cell types explicitly decouples cell identity from phenotype, essentially allowing for the divergence of evolutionarily related morphotypes beyond recognition, as well as it decouples ontogenetic cell lineage from cell-type phylogeny, whereby explicating that cell types can share common descent regardless of their structure, function or developmental origin. The article succinctly summarizes current progress and opinion in this field and formulates a more generalistic view of biological cell types as avatars, transient or terminal cell states deployed in a continuum of states by the developmental programme of one and the same omnipotent cell, capable of changing or combining identities with distinct evolutionary histories or inventing ad hoc identities that never existed in evolution or development. It highlights how the new logic grounded in the regulatory nature of cell identity transforms the concepts of cell homology and phenotypic stability, suggesting that cellular evolution is inherently and massively network-like, with one-to-one homologies being rather uncommon and restricted to shallower levels of the animal tree of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonid Y Rusin
- Laboratory for Mathematic Methods and Models in Bioinformatics, Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute), Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- EvoGenome Analytics LLC, Odintsovo, Moscow Region, Russia
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2
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Abstract
During gastrulation, early embryos specify and reorganise the topology of their germ layers. Surprisingly, this fundamental and early process does not appear to be rigidly constrained by evolutionary pressures; instead, the morphology of gastrulation is highly variable throughout the animal kingdom. Recent experimental results demonstrate that it is possible to generate different alternative gastrulation modes in single organisms, such as in early cnidarian, arthropod and vertebrate embryos. Here, we review the mechanisms that underlie the plasticity of vertebrate gastrulation both when experimentally manipulated and during evolution. Using the insights obtained from these experiments we discuss the effects of the increase in yolk volume on the morphology of gastrulation and provide new insights into two crucial innovations during amniote gastrulation: the transition from a ring-shaped mesoderm domain in anamniotes to a crescent-shaped domain in amniotes, and the evolution of the reptilian blastoporal plate/canal into the avian primitive streak.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cornelis J. Weijer
- School of Life Sciences Research Complex, University of Dundee, Dow Street, Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK
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3
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Bajgar A, Krejčová G. On the origin of the functional versatility of macrophages. Front Physiol 2023; 14:1128984. [PMID: 36909237 PMCID: PMC9998073 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1128984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Macrophages represent the most functionally versatile cells in the animal body. In addition to recognizing and destroying pathogens, macrophages remove senescent and exhausted cells, promote wound healing, and govern tissue and metabolic homeostasis. In addition, many specialized populations of tissue-resident macrophages exhibit highly specialized functions essential for the function of specific organs. Sometimes, however, macrophages cease to perform their protective function and their seemingly incomprehensible response to certain stimuli leads to pathology. In this study, we address the question of the origin of the functional versatility of macrophages. To this end, we have searched for the evolutionary origin of macrophages themselves and for the emergence of their characteristic properties. We hypothesize that many of the characteristic features of proinflammatory macrophages evolved in the unicellular ancestors of animals, and that the functional repertoire of macrophage-like amoebocytes further expanded with the evolution of multicellularity and the increasing complexity of tissues and organ systems. We suggest that the entire repertoire of macrophage functions evolved by repurposing and diversification of basic functions that evolved early in the evolution of metazoans under conditions barely comparable to that in tissues of multicellular organisms. We believe that by applying this perspective, we may find an explanation for the otherwise counterintuitive behavior of macrophages in many human pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Bajgar
- Faculty of Science, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.,Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
| | - Gabriela Krejčová
- Faculty of Science, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.,Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
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4
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Moroz LL, Romanova DY. Alternative neural systems: What is a neuron? (Ctenophores, sponges and placozoans). Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:1071961. [PMID: 36619868 PMCID: PMC9816575 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.1071961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
How to make a neuron, a synapse, and a neural circuit? Is there only one 'design' for a neural architecture with a universally shared genomic blueprint across species? The brief answer is "No." Four early divergent lineages from the nerveless common ancestor of all animals independently evolved distinct neuroid-type integrative systems. One of these is a subset of neural nets in comb jellies with unique synapses; the second lineage is the well-known Cnidaria + Bilateria; the two others are non-synaptic neuroid systems in sponges and placozoans. By integrating scRNA-seq and microscopy data, we revise the definition of neurons as synaptically-coupled polarized and highly heterogenous secretory cells at the top of behavioral hierarchies with learning capabilities. This physiological (not phylogenetic) definition separates 'true' neurons from non-synaptically and gap junction-coupled integrative systems executing more stereotyped behaviors. Growing evidence supports the hypothesis of multiple origins of neurons and synapses. Thus, many non-bilaterian and bilaterian neuronal classes, circuits or systems are considered functional rather than genetic categories, composed of non-homologous cell types. In summary, little-explored examples of convergent neuronal evolution in representatives of early branching metazoans provide conceptually novel microanatomical and physiological architectures of behavioral controls in animals with prospects of neuro-engineering and synthetic biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonid L. Moroz
- Departments of Neuroscience and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States,Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL, United States,*Correspondence: Leonid L. Moroz, ; Daria Y. Romanova,
| | - Daria Y. Romanova
- Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of RAS, 5A Butlerova, Moscow, Russia,*Correspondence: Leonid L. Moroz, ; Daria Y. Romanova,
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5
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Yuan H, Hatleberg WL, Degnan BM, Degnan SM. Gene activation of metazoan Fox transcription factors at the onset of metamorphosis in the marine demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica. Dev Growth Differ 2022; 64:455-468. [PMID: 36155915 PMCID: PMC9828451 DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Transcription factors encoded by the Forkhead (Fox) gene family have diverse, sometimes conserved, regulatory roles in eumetazoan development, immunity, and physiology. Although this gene family includes members that predate the origin of the animal kingdom, the majority of metazoan Fox genes evolved after the divergence of animals and choanoflagellates. Here, we characterize the composition, structure, and expression of Fox genes in the marine demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica to better understand the origin and evolution of this family. The Fox gene repertoire in A. queenslandica appears to be similar to the ancestral metazoan Fox gene family. All 17 A. queenslandica Fox genes are differentially expressed during development and in adult cell types. Remarkably, eight of these, all of which appear to be metazoan-specific, are induced within just 1 h of larval settlement and commencement of metamorphosis. Gene co-expression analyses suggest that these eight Fox genes regulate developmental and physiological processes similar to their roles in other animals. These findings are consistent with Fox genes playing deeply ancestral roles in animal development and physiology, including in response to changes in the external environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huifang Yuan
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Marine ScienceUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia
| | - William L. Hatleberg
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Marine ScienceUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia,Present address:
Department of Biological SciencesCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburghPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Bernard M. Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Marine ScienceUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia
| | - Sandie M. Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Marine ScienceUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia
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6
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MRTF specifies a muscle-like contractile module in Porifera. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4134. [PMID: 35840552 PMCID: PMC9287330 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31756-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Muscle-based movement is a hallmark of animal biology, but the evolutionary origins of myocytes are unknown. Although believed to lack muscles, sponges (Porifera) are capable of coordinated whole-body contractions that purge debris from internal water canals. This behavior has been observed for decades, but their contractile tissues remain uncharacterized with respect to their ultrastructure, regulation, and development. We examine the sponge Ephydatia muelleri and find tissue-wide organization of a contractile module composed of actin, striated-muscle myosin II, and transgelin, and that contractions are regulated by the release of internal Ca2+ stores upstream of the myosin-light-chain-kinase (MLCK) pathway. The development of this contractile module appears to involve myocardin-related transcription factor (MRTF) as part of an environmentally inducible transcriptional complex that also functions in muscle development, plasticity, and regeneration. As an actin-regulated force-sensor, MRTF-activity offers a mechanism for how the contractile tissues that line water canals can dynamically remodel in response to flow and can re-form normally from stem-cells in the absence of the intrinsic spatial cues typical of animal embryogenesis. We conclude that the contractile module of sponge tissues shares elements of homology with contractile tissues in other animals, including muscles, indicating descent from a common, multifunctional tissue in the animal stem-lineage. Myocytes are a key cell type that enable animal movement, but their evolutionary origins remain unclear. Colgren and Nichols describe molecular and functional similarities between a contractile module in tissues of a sponge and muscle tissues in other animals, indicating a common evolutionary origin.
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7
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Wong E, Anggono V, Williams SR, Degnan SM, Degnan BM. Phototransduction in a marine sponge provides insights into the origin of animal vision. iScience 2022; 25:104436. [PMID: 35707725 PMCID: PMC9189025 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 08/22/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Most organisms respond to light. Here, we investigate the origin of metazoan phototransduction by comparing well-characterized opsin-based photosystems in neural animals with those in the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica. Although sponges lack neurons and opsins, they can respond rapidly to light. In Amphimedon larvae, this is guided by the light-sensing posterior pigment ring. We first use cell-type-specific transcriptomes to reveal that genes that characterize eumetazoan Gt- and Go-mediated photosystems are enriched in the pigment ring. We then apply a suite of signaling pathway agonists and antagonists to swimming larvae exposed to directional light. These experiments implicate metabotropic glutamate receptors, phospholipase-C, protein kinase C, and voltage-gated calcium channels in larval phototaxis; the inhibition of phospholipase-C, a key transducer of the Gq-mediated pathway, completely reverses phototactic behavior. Together, these results are consistent with aneural sponges sharing with neural metazoans an ancestral set of photosignaling pathways. Amphimedon larvae are negatively phototactic but lack neurons and opsins Sponge larval photosensory cells are enriched in conserved phototransduction genes Conserved photosignaling pathways appear to be controlling larval phototaxis Phototactic behavior is reversed by the inhibition of phospholipase-C
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunice Wong
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Victor Anggono
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.,Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Stephen R Williams
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Sandie M Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Bernard M Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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8
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Ewe CK, Sommermann EM, Kenchel J, Flowers SE, Maduro MF, Joshi PM, Rothman JH. Feedforward regulatory logic controls the specification-to-differentiation transition and terminal cell fate during Caenorhabditis elegans endoderm development. Development 2022; 149:dev200337. [PMID: 35758255 PMCID: PMC10656426 DOI: 10.1242/dev.200337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2023]
Abstract
The architecture of gene regulatory networks determines the specificity and fidelity of developmental outcomes. We report that the core regulatory circuitry for endoderm development in Caenorhabditis elegans operates through a transcriptional cascade consisting of six sequentially expressed GATA-type factors that act in a recursive series of interlocked feedforward modules. This structure results in sequential redundancy, in which removal of a single factor or multiple alternate factors in the cascade leads to a mild or no effect on gut development, whereas elimination of any two sequential factors invariably causes a strong phenotype. The phenotypic strength is successfully predicted with a computational model based on the timing and levels of transcriptional states. We found that one factor in the middle of the cascade, END-1, which straddles the distinct events of specification and differentiation, functions in both processes. Finally, we reveal roles for key GATA factors in establishing spatial regulatory state domains by repressing other fates, thereby defining boundaries in the digestive tract. Our findings provide a paradigm that could account for the genetic redundancy observed in many developmental regulatory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chee Kiang Ewe
- Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Erica M. Sommermann
- Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Josh Kenchel
- Program in Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Sagen E. Flowers
- Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Morris F. Maduro
- Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology Department, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Pradeep M. Joshi
- Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Joel H. Rothman
- Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
- Program in Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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9
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Borisenko I, Daugavet M, Ereskovsky A, Lavrov A, Podgornaya O. Novel protein from larval sponge cells, ilborin, is related to energy turnover and calcium binding and is conserved among marine invertebrates. Open Biol 2022; 12:210336. [PMID: 35193395 PMCID: PMC8864356 DOI: 10.1098/rsob.210336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Sponges (phylum Porifera) are early-branching animals, whose outwardly simple body plan is underlain by a complex genetic repertoire. The transition from a mobile larva to an attached filter-feeding organism occurs by metamorphosis, a process accompanied by a radical change of the body plan and cell transdifferentiation. The continuity between larval cells and adult tissues is still obscure. In a previous study, we have produced polyclonal antibodies against the major protein of the flagellated cells covering the larva of the sponge Halisarca dujardini, used them to trace the fate of these cells and shown that the larval flagellated cells transdifferentiate into the choanocytes. In the present work, we identified the sequence of this novel protein, which we named ilborin. A search in the open databases showed that multiple orthologues of the newly identified protein are present in sponges, cnidarians, flatworms, ctenophores and echinoderms, but none of them has been described yet. Ilborin has two conserved domains: triosephosphate isomerase-barrel, which has enzymatic activity against macroergic compounds, and canonical EF-hand, which binds calcium. mRNA of ilborin is expressed in the larval flagellated cells. We suggest that the new protein is involved in the calcium-mediated regulation of energy metabolism, whose activation precedes metamorphosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya Borisenko
- Department of Embryology, Faculty of Biology, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Maria Daugavet
- Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Alexander Ereskovsky
- Department of Embryology, Faculty of Biology, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia,Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie Marine et Continentale (IMBE), Université d' Aix-Marseille, CNRS, IRD, Marseille, France,Evolution of Morphogenesis Laboratory, Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Andrey Lavrov
- Pertsov White Sea Biological Station, Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Olga Podgornaya
- Department of Embryology, Faculty of Biology, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia,Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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10
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Sheng G, Martinez Arias A, Sutherland A. The primitive streak and cellular principles of building an amniote body through gastrulation. Science 2021; 374:abg1727. [PMID: 34855481 DOI: 10.1126/science.abg1727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
[Figure: see text].
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Affiliation(s)
- Guojun Sheng
- International Research Center for Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
| | - Alfonso Martinez Arias
- Systems Bioengineering, DCEXS, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Doctor Aiguader, 88 ICREA, Pag Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ann Sutherland
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA, USA
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11
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Mayorova TD, Hammar K, Jung JH, Aronova MA, Zhang G, Winters CA, Reese TS, Smith CL. Placozoan fiber cells: mediators of innate immunity and participants in wound healing. Sci Rep 2021; 11:23343. [PMID: 34857844 PMCID: PMC8639732 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02735-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Placozoa is a phylum of non-bilaterian marine animals. These small, flat organisms adhere to the substrate via their densely ciliated ventral epithelium, which mediates mucociliary locomotion and nutrient uptake. They have only six morphological cell types, including one, fiber cells, for which functional data is lacking. Fiber cells are non-epithelial cells with multiple processes. We used electron and light microscopic approaches to unravel the roles of fiber cells in Trichoplax adhaerens, a representative member of the phylum. Three-dimensional reconstructions of serial sections of Trichoplax showed that each fiber cell is in contact with several other cells. Examination of fiber cells in thin sections and observations of live dissociated fiber cells demonstrated that they phagocytose cell debris and bacteria. In situ hybridization confirmed that fiber cells express genes involved in phagocytic activity. Fiber cells also are involved in wound healing as evidenced from microsurgery experiments. Based on these observations we conclude that fiber cells are multi-purpose macrophage-like cells. Macrophage-like cells have been described in Porifera, Ctenophora, and Cnidaria and are widespread among Bilateria, but our study is the first to show that Placozoa possesses this cell type. The phylogenetic distribution of macrophage-like cells suggests that they appeared early in metazoan evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatiana D Mayorova
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 49 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
| | - Katherine Hammar
- Central Microscopy Facility, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA
| | - Jae H Jung
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 49 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Maria A Aronova
- Laboratory of Cellular Imaging and Macromolecular Biophysics, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Guofeng Zhang
- Laboratory of Cellular Imaging and Macromolecular Biophysics, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Christine A Winters
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 49 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Thomas S Reese
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 49 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Carolyn L Smith
- Light Imaging Facility, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 35 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
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12
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Marshall PJ, Houser TM, Weiss SM. The Shared Origins of Embodiment and Development. Front Syst Neurosci 2021; 15:726403. [PMID: 34483853 PMCID: PMC8416067 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.726403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
As a domain of study centering on the nature of the body in the functioning of the individual organism, embodiment encompasses a diverse array of topics and questions. One useful organizing framework places embodiment as a bridge construct connecting three standpoints on the body: the form of the body, the body as actively engaged in and with the world, and the body as lived experience. Through connecting these standpoints, the construct of embodiment shows that they are not mutually exclusive: inherent in form is the capacity for engagement, and inherent in engagement is a lived perspective that confers agency and meaning. Here, we employ this framework to underscore the deep connections between embodiment and development. We begin with a discussion of the origins of multicellularity, highlighting how the evolution of bodies was the evolution of development itself. The evolution of the metazoan (animal) body is of particular interest, because most animals possess complex bodies with sensorimotor capacities for perceiving and acting that bring forth a particular sort of embodiment. However, we also emphasize that the thread of embodiment runs through all living things, which share an organizational property of self-determination that endows them with a specific kind of autonomy. This realization moves us away from a Cartesian machine metaphor and instead puts an emphasis on the lived perspective that arises from being embodied. This broad view of embodiment presents opportunities to transcend the boundaries of individual disciplines to create a novel integrative vision for the scientific study of development.
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13
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Presnell JS, Browne WE. Krüppel-like factor gene function in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi assessed by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing. Development 2021; 148:272041. [PMID: 34373891 DOI: 10.1242/dev.199771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The Krüppel-like factor (Klf) gene family encodes transcription factors that play an important role in the regulation of stem cell proliferation, cell differentiation and development in bilaterians. Although Klf genes have been shown to specify functionally various cell types in non-bilaterian animals, their role in early-diverging animal lineages has not been assessed. Thus, the ancestral activity of these transcription factors in animal development is not well understood. The ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi has emerged as an important non-bilaterian model system for understanding early animal evolution. Here, we characterize the expression and functional role of Klf genes during M. leidyi embryogenesis. Zygotic Klf gene function was assessed with both CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing and splice-blocking morpholino oligonucleotide knockdown approaches. Abrogation of zygotic Klf expression during M. leidyi embryogenesis resulted in abnormal development of several organs, including the pharynx, tentacle bulbs and apical organ. Our data suggest an ancient role for Klf genes in regulating endodermal patterning, possibly through regulation of cell proliferation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason S Presnell
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Cox Science Center, 1301 Memorial Drive, Miami, FL 33146, USA
| | - William E Browne
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Cox Science Center, 1301 Memorial Drive, Miami, FL 33146, USA
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14
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Borchiellini C, Degnan SM, Le Goff E, Rocher C, Vernale A, Baghdiguian S, Séjourné N, Marschal F, Le Bivic A, Godefroy N, Degnan BM, Renard E. Staining and Tracking Methods for Studying Sponge Cell Dynamics. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2219:81-97. [PMID: 33074535 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0974-3_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
To better understand the origin of animal cell types, body plans, and other morphological features, further biological knowledge and understanding are needed from non-bilaterian phyla, namely, Placozoa, Ctenophora, and Porifera. This chapter describes recent cell staining approaches that have been developed in three phylogenetically distinct sponge species-the homoscleromorph Oscarella lobularis, and the demosponges Amphimedon queenslandica and Lycopodina hypogea-to enable analyses of cell death, proliferation, and migration. These methods allow for a more detailed understanding of cellular behaviors and fates, and morphogenetic processes in poriferans, building on current knowledge of sponge cell biology that relies chiefly on classical (static) histological observations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sandie M Degnan
- Centre for Marine Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Emilie Le Goff
- ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Caroline Rocher
- Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Marseille, France
| | - Amélie Vernale
- Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Marseille, France
- Aix Marseille University, CNRS, UMR 7288, IBDM, Marseille, France
| | | | - Nina Séjourné
- Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Marseille, France
| | - Florent Marschal
- Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Marseille, France
| | - André Le Bivic
- Aix Marseille University, CNRS, UMR 7288, IBDM, Marseille, France
| | - Nelly Godefroy
- ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
| | - Bernard M Degnan
- Centre for Marine Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
| | - Emmanuelle Renard
- Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Marseille, France.
- Aix Marseille University, CNRS, UMR 7288, IBDM, Marseille, France.
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15
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Ros-Rocher N, Pérez-Posada A, Leger MM, Ruiz-Trillo I. The origin of animals: an ancestral reconstruction of the unicellular-to-multicellular transition. Open Biol 2021; 11:200359. [PMID: 33622103 PMCID: PMC8061703 DOI: 10.1098/rsob.200359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
How animals evolved from a single-celled ancestor, transitioning from a unicellular lifestyle to a coordinated multicellular entity, remains a fascinating question. Key events in this transition involved the emergence of processes related to cell adhesion, cell–cell communication and gene regulation. To understand how these capacities evolved, we need to reconstruct the features of both the last common multicellular ancestor of animals and the last unicellular ancestor of animals. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the characterization of these ancestors, inferred by comparative genomic analyses between the earliest branching animals and those radiating later, and between animals and their closest unicellular relatives. We also provide an updated hypothesis regarding the transition to animal multicellularity, which was likely gradual and involved the use of gene regulatory mechanisms in the emergence of early developmental and morphogenetic plans. Finally, we discuss some new avenues of research that will complement these studies in the coming years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Núria Ros-Rocher
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Alberto Pérez-Posada
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CSIC-Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Carretera de Utrera Km 1, 41013 Sevilla, Andalusia, Spain
| | - Michelle M Leger
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,ICREA, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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16
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Cooperative epithelial phagocytosis enables error correction in the early embryo. Nature 2021; 590:618-623. [PMID: 33568811 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03200-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Errors in early embryogenesis are a cause of sporadic cell death and developmental failure1,2. Phagocytic activity has a central role in scavenging apoptotic cells in differentiated tissues3-6. However, how apoptotic cells are cleared in the blastula embryo in the absence of specialized immune cells remains unknown. Here we show that the surface epithelium of zebrafish and mouse embryos, which is the first tissue formed during vertebrate development, performs efficient phagocytic clearance of apoptotic cells through phosphatidylserine-mediated target recognition. Quantitative four-dimensional in vivo imaging analyses reveal a collective epithelial clearance mechanism that is based on mechanical cooperation by two types of Rac1-dependent basal epithelial protrusions. The first type of protrusion, phagocytic cups, mediates apoptotic target uptake. The second, a previously undescribed type of fast and extended actin-based protrusion that we call 'epithelial arms', promotes the rapid dispersal of apoptotic targets through Arp2/3-dependent mechanical pushing. On the basis of experimental data and modelling, we show that mechanical load-sharing enables the long-range cooperative uptake of apoptotic cells by multiple epithelial cells. This optimizes the efficiency of tissue clearance by extending the limited spatial exploration range and local uptake capacity of non-motile epithelial cells. Our findings show that epithelial tissue clearance facilitates error correction that is relevant to the developmental robustness and survival of the embryo, revealing the presence of an innate immune function in the earliest stages of embryonic development.
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17
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Wong ES, Zheng D, Tan SZ, Bower NL, Garside V, Vanwalleghem G, Gaiti F, Scott E, Hogan BM, Kikuchi K, McGlinn E, Francois M, Degnan BM. Deep conservation of the enhancer regulatory code in animals. Science 2020; 370:370/6517/eaax8137. [PMID: 33154111 DOI: 10.1126/science.aax8137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2019] [Revised: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Interactions of transcription factors (TFs) with DNA regulatory sequences, known as enhancers, specify cell identity during animal development. Unlike TFs, the origin and evolution of enhancers has been difficult to trace. We drove zebrafish and mouse developmental transcription using enhancers from an evolutionarily distant marine sponge. Some of these sponge enhancers are located in highly conserved microsyntenic regions, including an Islet enhancer in the Islet-Scaper region. We found that Islet enhancers in humans and mice share a suite of TF binding motifs with sponges, and that they drive gene expression patterns similar to those of sponge and endogenous Islet enhancers in zebrafish. Our results suggest the existence of an ancient and conserved, yet flexible, genomic regulatory syntax that has been repeatedly co-opted into cell type-specific gene regulatory networks across the animal kingdom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily S Wong
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. .,Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia.,School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Dawei Zheng
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia
| | - Siew Z Tan
- Institute for Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Neil L Bower
- Institute for Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Victoria Garside
- Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | | | - Federico Gaiti
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Ethan Scott
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Benjamin M Hogan
- Institute for Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.,Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience and Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Kazu Kikuchi
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia
| | - Edwina McGlinn
- Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Mathias Francois
- Institute for Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. .,Centenary Institute, David Richmond Program for Cardio-Vascular Research: Gene Regulation and Editing, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Bernard M Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
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18
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Johnson AB, Lambert JD. The Caudal ParaHox gene is required for hindgut development in the mollusc Tritia (a.k.a. Ilyanassa). Dev Biol 2020; 470:1-9. [PMID: 33191200 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2020.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2019] [Revised: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 10/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Caudal homeobox genes are found across animals, typically linked to two other homeobox genes in what has been called the ParaHox cluster. These genes have been proposed to pattern the anterior-posterior axis of the endoderm ancestrally, but the expression of Caudal in extant groups is varied and often occurs in other germ layers. Here we examine the role of Caudal in the embryo of the mollusc Tritia (Ilyanassa) obsoleta. ToCaudal expression is initially broad, then becomes progressively restricted and is finally only in the developing hindgut (a.k.a. intestine). Knockdown of ToCaudal using morpholino oligonucleotides specifically blocks hindgut development, indicating that despite its initially broad expression, the functional role of ToCaudal is in hindgut patterning. This is the first functional characterization of Caudal in an animal with spiralian development, which is an ancient mode of embryogenesis that arose early in bilaterian animal evolution. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the ancestral role of the ParaHox genes was anterior-posterior patterning of the endoderm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam B Johnson
- Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA
| | - J David Lambert
- Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA.
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19
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20
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Yin Z, Vargas K, Cunningham J, Bengtson S, Zhu M, Marone F, Donoghue P. The Early Ediacaran Caveasphaera Foreshadows the Evolutionary Origin of Animal-like Embryology. Curr Biol 2019; 29:4307-4314.e2. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Revised: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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21
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Arnellos A, Keijzer F. Bodily Complexity: Integrated Multicellular Organizations for Contraction-Based Motility. Front Physiol 2019; 10:1268. [PMID: 31680996 PMCID: PMC6803425 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.01268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Compared to other forms of multicellularity, the animal case is unique. Animals-barring some exceptions-consist of collections of cells that are connected and integrated to such an extent that these collectives act as unitary, large free-moving entities capable of sensing macroscopic properties and events. This animal configuration is so well-known that it is often taken as a natural one that 'must' have evolved, given environmental conditions that make large free-moving units 'obviously' adaptive. Here we question the seemingly evolutionary inevitableness of animals and introduce a thesis of bodily complexity: The multicellular organization characteristic for typical animals requires the integration of a multitude of intrinsic bodily features between its sensorimotor, physiological, and developmental aspects, and the related contraction-based tissue- and cellular-level events and processes. The evolutionary road toward this bodily complexity involves, we argue, various intermediate organizational steps that accompany and support the wider transition from cilia-based to contraction/muscle-based motility, and which remain insufficiently acknowledged. Here, we stress the crucial and specific role played by muscle-based and myoepithelial tissue contraction-acting as a physical platform for organizing both the multicellular transmission of mechanical forces and multicellular signaling-as key foundation of animal motility, sensing and maintenance, and development. We illustrate and discuss these bodily features in the context of the four basal animal phyla-Porifera, Ctenophores, Placozoans, and Cnidarians-that split off before the bilaterians, a supergroup that incorporates all complex animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Argyris Arnellos
- IAS-Research Centre for Life, Mind & Society, Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastián, Spain.,Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, Complex Systems and Service Design Lab, University of the Aegean, Syros, Greece
| | - Fred Keijzer
- Department of Theoretical Philosophy, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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22
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Phagocytosis in cellular defense and nutrition: a food-centered approach to the evolution of macrophages. Cell Tissue Res 2019; 377:527-547. [PMID: 31485720 DOI: 10.1007/s00441-019-03096-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The uptake of macromolecules and larger energy-rich particles into the cell is known as phagocytosis. Phagocytosed material is enzymatically degraded in membrane-bound vesicles of the endosome/lysosome system (intracellular digestion). Whereas most, if not all, cells of the animal body are equipped with the molecular apparatus for phagocytosis and intracellular digestion, a few cell types are specialized for a highly efficient mode of phagocytosis. These are the ("professional") macrophages, motile cells that seek out and eliminate pathogenic invaders or damaged cells. Macrophages form the backbone of the innate immune system. Developmentally, they derive from specialized compartments within the embryonic mesoderm and early vasculature as part of the process of hematopoiesis. Intensive research has revealed in detail molecular and cellular mechanisms of phagocytosis and intracellular digestion in macrophages. In contrast, little is known about a second type of cell that is "professionally" involved in phagocytosis, namely the "enteric phagocyte." Next to secretory (zymogenic) cells, enteric phagocytes form one of the two major cell types of the intestine of most invertebrate animals. Unlike vertebrates, these invertebrates only partially digest food material in the intestinal lumen. The resulting food particles are absorbed by phagocytosis or pinocytosis and digested intracellularly. In this review, we provide a brief overview of the enteric phagocytes described electron microscopically for diverse invertebrate clades, to then to compare these cells with the "canonical" phagocyte ultrastructure established for macrophages. In addition, we will review observations and speculations associated with the hypothesis that macrophages are evolutionarily derived from enteric phagocytes. This idea was already proposed in the late nineteenth century by Elias Metschnikoff who pioneered the research of phagocytosis for both macrophages and enteric phagocytes. We presume that modern approaches to better understand phagocytosis will be helped by considering the deep evolutionary relationship between the two cell types.
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23
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Colgren J, Nichols SA. The significance of sponges for comparative studies of developmental evolution. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY 2019; 9:e359. [PMID: 31352684 DOI: 10.1002/wdev.359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 05/27/2019] [Accepted: 06/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Sponges, ctenophores, placozoans, and cnidarians have key evolutionary significance in that they bracket the time interval during which organized animal tissues were first assembled, fundamental cell types originated (e.g., neurons and myocytes), and developmental patterning mechanisms evolved. Sponges in particular have often been viewed as living surrogates for early animal ancestors, largely due to similarities between their feeding cells (choanocytes) with choanoflagellates, the unicellular/colony-forming sister group to animals. Here, we evaluate these claims and highlight aspects of sponge biology with comparative value for understanding developmental evolution, irrespective of the purported antiquity of their body plan. Specifically, we argue that sponges strike a different balance between patterning and plasticity than other animals, and that environmental inputs may have prominence over genetically regulated developmental mechanisms. We then present a case study to illustrate how contractile epithelia in sponges can help unravel the complex ancestry of an ancient animal cell type, myocytes, which sponges lack. Sponges represent hundreds of millions of years of largely unexamined evolutionary experimentation within animals. Their phylogenetic placement lends them key significance for learning about the past, and their divergent biology challenges current views about the scope of animal cell and developmental biology. This article is characterized under: Comparative Development and Evolution > Evolutionary Novelties Comparative Development and Evolution > Body Plan Evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey Colgren
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
| | - Scott A Nichols
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
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24
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Pluripotency and the origin of animal multicellularity. Nature 2019; 570:519-522. [PMID: 31189954 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1290-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 05/16/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
A widely held-but rarely tested-hypothesis for the origin of animals is that they evolved from a unicellular ancestor, with an apical cilium surrounded by a microvillar collar, that structurally resembled modern sponge choanocytes and choanoflagellates1-4. Here we test this view of animal origins by comparing the transcriptomes, fates and behaviours of the three primary sponge cell types-choanocytes, pluripotent mesenchymal archaeocytes and epithelial pinacocytes-with choanoflagellates and other unicellular holozoans. Unexpectedly, we find that the transcriptome of sponge choanocytes is the least similar to the transcriptomes of choanoflagellates and is significantly enriched in genes unique to either animals or sponges alone. By contrast, pluripotent archaeocytes upregulate genes that control cell proliferation and gene expression, as in other metazoan stem cells and in the proliferating stages of two unicellular holozoans, including a colonial choanoflagellate. Choanocytes in the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica exist in a transient metastable state and readily transdifferentiate into archaeocytes, which can differentiate into a range of other cell types. These sponge cell-type conversions are similar to the temporal cell-state changes that occur in unicellular holozoans5. Together, these analyses argue against homology of sponge choanocytes and choanoflagellates, and the view that the first multicellular animals were simple balls of cells with limited capacity to differentiate. Instead, our results are consistent with the first animal cell being able to transition between multiple states in a manner similar to modern transdifferentiating and stem cells.
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25
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Kozin VV, Borisenko IE, Kostyuchenko RP. Establishment of the Axial Polarity and Cell Fate in Metazoa via Canonical Wnt Signaling: New Insights from Sponges and Annelids. BIOL BULL+ 2019. [DOI: 10.1134/s1062359019010035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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26
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Schippers KJ, Nichols SA. Evidence of Signaling and Adhesion Roles for β-Catenin in the Sponge Ephydatia muelleri. Mol Biol Evol 2019. [PMID: 29522209 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msy033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
β-Catenin acts as a transcriptional coactivator in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and a cytoplasmic effector in cadherin-based cell adhesion. These functions are ancient within animals, but the earliest steps in β-catenin evolution remain unresolved due to limited data from key lineages-sponges, ctenophores, and placozoans. Previous studies in sponges have characterized β-catenin expression dynamics and used GSK3B antagonists to ectopically activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway; both approaches rely upon untested assumptions about the conservation of β-catenin function and regulation in sponges. Here, we test these assumptions using an antibody raised against β-catenin from the sponge Ephydatia muelleri. We find that cadherin-complex genes coprecipitate with endogenous Em β-catenin from cell lysates, but that Wnt pathway components do not. However, through immunostaining we detect both cell boundary and nuclear populations, and we find evidence that Em β-catenin is a conserved substrate of GSK3B. Collectively, these data support conserved roles for Em β-catenin in both cell adhesion and Wnt signaling. Additionally, we find evidence for an Em β-catenin population associated with the distal ends of F-actin stress fibers in apparent cell-substrate adhesion structures that resemble focal adhesions. This finding suggests a fundamental difference in the adhesion properties of sponge tissues relative to other animals, in which the adhesion functions of β-catenin are typically restricted to cell-cell adhesions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Scott A Nichols
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, CO
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27
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Reynolds AS. Ernst Haeckel and the philosophy of sponges. Theory Biosci 2019; 138:133-146. [PMID: 30868430 DOI: 10.1007/s12064-019-00286-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2018] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Nearly 150 years ago, Ernst Haeckel published a three volume monograph on the calcareous sponges. These volumes contained the results of his extensive investigation of the anatomy, reproduction, and development of these marine invertebrate organisms. This paper discusses how Haeckel's contribution to spongiology was so distinct from that of earlier writers on the natural history of sponges, by focusing on his "philosophy of sponges." This included "an analytic" proof of Darwin's theory of descent, an argument for the monophyletic origin of the Metazoa from an ancient sponge-like embryo (the "gastraea theory"), and proof of the philosophy of monism that humans are no different than lowly sponges in their perfectly natural and material origins according to the laws of ontogeny in a universe devoid of supernatural beings or purpose. Haeckel was a philosopher using the methods of natural science. He was also a gifted artist-as his illustrations attest-and like most artists he disliked criticism of his creations, including his theoretical work. His observations and speculations regarding sponges (and certainly his more philosophical conclusions drawn therefrom) were and continue to be criticized, but as a review of the current literature shows, Haeckel's imprint on sponge biology is still very evident.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S Reynolds
- Department of Humanities, Cape Breton University, Sydney, NS, Canada.
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28
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Sokolova AM, Pozdnyakov IR, Ereskovsky AV, Karpov SA. Kinetid structure in larval and adult stages of the demosponges Haliclona aquaeductus (Haplosclerida) and Halichondria panicea (Suberitida). ZOOMORPHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00435-019-00437-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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29
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Establishment of Transgenesis in the Demosponge Suberites domuncula. Genetics 2018; 210:435-443. [PMID: 30143594 PMCID: PMC6216596 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.118.301121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 07/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Sponges (Porifera) represent one of the most basally branching animal clades with key relevance for evolutionary studies, stem cell biology, and development. Despite a long history of sponges as experimental model systems, however, functional molecular studies are still very difficult to perform in these animals. Here, we report the establishment of transgenic technology as a basic and versatile experimental tool for sponge research. We demonstrate that slice explants of the demosponge Suberites domuncula regenerate functional sponge tissue and can be cultured for extended periods of time, providing easy experimental access under controlled conditions. We further show that an engineered expression construct driving the enhanced green fluorescence protein (egfp) gene under control of the Suberites domuncula β-actin locus can be transfected into such tissue cultures, and that faithfully spliced transcripts are produced from such transfected DNA. Finally, by combining fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) with quantitative PCR, we validate that transfected cells can be specifically reisolated from tissue based on their fluorescence. Although the number of detected enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-expressing cells is still limited, our approach represents the first successful introduction and expression of exogenous DNA in a sponge. These results represent a significant advance for the use of transgenic technology in a cornerstone phylum, for instance for the use in lineage tracing experiments.
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30
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Abstract
The origin of animals, one of the major transitions in evolution, remains mysterious. Many key aspects of animal evolution can be reconstructed by comparing living species within a robust phylogenetic framework. However, uncertainty remains regarding the evolutionary relationships between two ancient animal lineages - sponges and ctenophores - and the remaining animal phyla. Comparative morphology and some phylogenomic analyses support the view that sponges represent the sister lineage to the rest of the animals, while other phylogenomic analyses support ctenophores, a phylum of carnivorous, gelatinous marine organisms, as the sister lineage. Here, we explore why different studies yield different answers and discuss the implications of the two alternative hypotheses for understanding the origin of animals. Reconstruction of ancient evolutionary radiations is devilishly difficult and will likely require broader sampling of sponge and ctenophore genomes, improved analytical strategies and critical analyses of the phylogenetic distribution and molecular mechanisms underlying apparently conserved traits. Rather than staking out positions in favor of the ctenophores-sister or the sponges-sister hypothesis, we submit that research programs aimed at understanding the biology of the first animals should instead embrace the uncertainty surrounding early animal evolution in their experimental designs.
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31
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Salinas-Saavedra M, Rock AQ, Martindale MQ. Germ layer-specific regulation of cell polarity and adhesion gives insight into the evolution of mesoderm. eLife 2018; 7:e36740. [PMID: 30063005 PMCID: PMC6067901 DOI: 10.7554/elife.36740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In triploblastic animals, Par-proteins regulate cell-polarity and adherens junctions of both ectodermal and endodermal epithelia. But, in embryos of the diploblastic cnidarian Nematostella vectensis, Par-proteins are degraded in all cells in the bifunctional gastrodermal epithelium. Using immunohistochemistry, CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis, and mRNA overexpression, we describe the functional association between Par-proteins, ß-catenin, and snail transcription factor genes in N. vectensis embryos. We demonstrate that the aPKC/Par complex regulates the localization of ß-catenin in the ectoderm by stabilizing its role in cell-adhesion, and that endomesodermal epithelial cells are organized by a different cell-adhesion system than overlying ectoderm. We also show that ectopic expression of snail genes, which are expressed in mesodermal derivatives in bilaterians, is sufficient to downregulate Par-proteins and translocate ß-catenin from the junctions to the cytoplasm in ectodermal cells. These data provide molecular insight into the evolution of epithelial structure and distinct cell behaviors in metazoan embryos.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Salinas-Saavedra
- The Whitney
Laboratory for Marine BioscienceUniversity of
FloridaFloridaUnited
States
- Department of
BiologyUniversity of
FloridaFloridaUnited
States
| | - Amber Q Rock
- The Whitney
Laboratory for Marine BioscienceUniversity of
FloridaFloridaUnited
States
| | - Mark Q Martindale
- The Whitney
Laboratory for Marine BioscienceUniversity of
FloridaFloridaUnited
States
- Department of
BiologyUniversity of
FloridaFloridaUnited
States
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32
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Sebé-Pedrós A, Chomsky E, Pang K, Lara-Astiaso D, Gaiti F, Mukamel Z, Amit I, Hejnol A, Degnan BM, Tanay A. Early metazoan cell type diversity and the evolution of multicellular gene regulation. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1176-1188. [PMID: 29942020 PMCID: PMC6040636 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0575-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Accepted: 05/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
A hallmark of metazoan evolution is the emergence of genomic mechanisms that implement cell type-specific functions. However, the evolution of metazoan cell types and their underlying gene regulatory programs remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we use whole-organism single-cell RNA-seq to map cell type-specific transcription in Porifera (sponges), Ctenophora (comb jellies) and Placozoa species. We describe the repertoires of cell types in these non-bilaterian animals, uncovering diverse instances of previously unknown molecular signatures, such as multiple types of peptidergic cells in Placozoa. Analysis of the regulatory programs of these cell types reveal variable levels of complexity. In placozoans and poriferans, sequence motifs in the promoters are predictive of cell type-specific programs. In contrast, the generation of a higher diversity of cell types in ctenophores is associated to lower specificity of promoter sequences and to the existence of distal regulatory elements. Our findings demonstrate that metazoan cell types can be defined by networks of TFs and proximal promoters, and indicate that further genome regulatory complexity may be required for more diverse cell type repertoires.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnau Sebé-Pedrós
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. .,Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
| | - Elad Chomsky
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Kevin Pang
- Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - David Lara-Astiaso
- Department of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Federico Gaiti
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Zohar Mukamel
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Ido Amit
- Department of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Andreas Hejnol
- Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Bernard M Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Amos Tanay
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. .,Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
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33
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Hall BK. Germ layers, the neural crest and emergent organization in development and evolution. Genesis 2018; 56:e23103. [PMID: 29637683 DOI: 10.1002/dvg.23103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2017] [Revised: 03/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Discovered in chick embryos by Wilhelm His in 1868 and named the neural crest by Arthur Milnes Marshall in 1879, the neural crest cells that arise from the neural folds have since been shown to differentiate into almost two dozen vertebrate cell types and to have played major roles in the evolution of such vertebrate features as bone, jaws, teeth, visceral (pharyngeal) arches, and sense organs. I discuss the discovery that ectodermal neural crest gave rise to mesenchyme and the controversy generated by that finding; the germ layer theory maintained that only mesoderm could give rise to mesenchyme. A second topic of discussion is germ layers (including the neural crest) as emergent levels of organization in animal development and evolution that facilitated major developmental and evolutionary change. The third topic is gene networks, gene co-option, and the evolution of gene-signaling pathways as key to developmental and evolutionary transitions associated with the origin and evolution of the neural crest and neural crest cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian K Hall
- Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 2H8, Canada
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34
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Lanna E, Cajado B, Santos D, Cruz F, Oliveira F, Vasconcellos V. Outlook on sponge reproduction science in the last ten years: are we far from where we should be? INVERTEBR REPROD DEV 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/07924259.2018.1453877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emilio Lanna
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Bruno Cajado
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Danyele Santos
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Fabiana Cruz
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Franciele Oliveira
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Vivian Vasconcellos
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, Brazil
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35
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Wijesena N, Martindale MQ. Reengineering the primary body axis by ectopic cWnt signaling. Curr Biol 2018; 28:R206-R207. [PMID: 29510105 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of gastrulation, the embryonic formation of distinct tissue layers, was a pivotal event in the metazoan radiation, as it paved the way for diversification of animal body plans from a hollow, ciliated, radially symmetrical ancestor [1]. The position of the site of gastrulation (that segregates internal endomesodermal precursors from outer ectodermal tissue) has played a role in our understanding of patterns of body plan evolution and is tightly regulated during development. In bilaterians (a large clade of bilaterally symmetrical animals that represent over 99% of all extant species), the site of gastrulation is determined by a localized molecular asymmetry resulting from a differential distribution of maternal determinants [2] along the so-called animal-vegetal axis (A-V axis) where the animal pole is marked by the site of polar body release during meiosis [1,3]. In most bilaterians, the site of gastrulation occurs at the vegetal pole (the side opposite the animal pole); however, in cnidarians (corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish) [3], the sister group to all bilaterians and ctenophores (comb jellies), likely to be the earliest branching group of extant metazoans [3], gastrulation occurs at the animal pole [3,4]. Here we show that components of the canonical Wnt-β-catenin (cWnt) signaling pathway mediate endomesoderm formation and patterns the adult primary body axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naveen Wijesena
- Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, Saint Augustine, Florida, USA
| | - Mark Q Martindale
- Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, Saint Augustine, Florida, USA.
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36
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Abstract
Over 100 years of sponge biology research has demonstrated spectacular diversity of cell behaviors during embryonic development, metamorphosis and regeneration. The past two decades have allowed the first glimpses into molecular and cellular mechanisms of these processes. We have learned that while embryonic development of sponges utilizes a conserved set of developmental regulatory genes known from other animals, sponge cell differentiation appears unusually labile. During normal development, and especially as a response to injury, sponge cells appear to have an uncanny ability to transdifferentiate. Here, I argue that sponge cell differentiation plasticity does not preclude homology of cell types and processes between sponges and other animals. Instead, it does provide a wonderful opportunity to better understand transdifferentiation processes in all animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maja Adamska
- Division of Biomedical Science and Biochemistry, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
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37
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Medwig TN, Matus DQ. Breaking down barriers: the evolution of cell invasion. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2017; 47:33-40. [PMID: 28881331 PMCID: PMC5716887 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2017.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2017] [Revised: 08/02/2017] [Accepted: 08/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Cell invasion is a specialized cell behavior that likely co-evolved with the emergence of basement membranes in metazoans as a mechanism to break down the barriers that separate tissues. A variety of conserved and lineage-specific biological processes that occur during development and homeostasis rely on cell invasive behavior. Recent innovations in genome editing and live-cell imaging have shed some light on the programs that mediate acquisition of an invasive phenotype; however, comparative approaches among species are necessary to understand how this cell behavior evolved. Here, we discuss the contexts of cell invasion, highlighting both established and emerging model systems, and underscore gaps in our understanding of the evolution of this key cellular behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor N Medwig
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215, USA
| | - David Q Matus
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215, USA.
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38
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Fierro-Constaín L, Schenkelaars Q, Gazave E, Haguenauer A, Rocher C, Ereskovsky A, Borchiellini C, Renard E. The Conservation of the Germline Multipotency Program, from Sponges to Vertebrates: A Stepping Stone to Understanding the Somatic and Germline Origins. Genome Biol Evol 2017; 9:474-488. [PMID: 28082608 PMCID: PMC5381599 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evw289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The germline definition in metazoans was first based on few bilaterian models. As a result, gene function interpretations were often based on phenotypes observed in those models and led to the definition of a set of genes, considered as specific of the germline, named the “germline core”. However, some of these genes were shown to also be involved in somatic stem cells, thus leading to the notion of germline multipotency program (GMP). Because Porifera and Ctenophora are currently the best candidates to be the sister-group to all other animals, the comparative analysis of gene contents and functions between these phyla, Cnidaria and Bilateria is expected to provide clues on early animal evolution and on the links between somatic and germ lineages. Our present bioinformatic analyses at the metazoan scale show that a set of 18 GMP genes was already present in the last common ancestor of metazoans and indicate more precisely the evolution of some of them in the animal lineage. The expression patterns and levels of 11 of these genes in the homoscleromorph sponge Oscarella lobularis show that they are expressed throughout their life cycle, in pluri/multipotent progenitors, during gametogenesis, embryogenesis and during wound healing. This new study in a nonbilaterian species reinforces the hypothesis of an ancestral multipotency program.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Fierro-Constaín
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
- Corresponding authors: E-mails: ;
| | - Quentin Schenkelaars
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Faculty of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGe3), University of Geneva
| | - Eve Gazave
- Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, UMR 7592, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Anne Haguenauer
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
| | - Caroline Rocher
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
| | - Alexander Ereskovsky
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
- Department of Embryology, Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Carole Borchiellini
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
| | - Emmanuelle Renard
- Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, CNRS, IRD, UMR 7263, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale IMBE, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France
- Corresponding authors: E-mails: ;
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39
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Yanai I. Development and Evolution through the Lens of Global Gene Regulation. Trends Genet 2017; 34:11-20. [PMID: 29061469 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2017.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2017] [Revised: 09/20/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Evolution and development are two inherently intertwined processes. As the embryo develops it does so in ways that both reflect past constraints and bias the future evolution of the species. While research exploiting this insight typically studies individual genes, transcriptomic analyses have sparked a new wave of discoveries. In this opinion piece, I review the evidence arising from transcriptomics on the topics of the evolution of germ layers, the phylotypic stage, and developmental constraints. The spatiotemporal pattern of gene expression across germ layers provides evidence that the endoderm was the first germ layer to evolve. Comparing transcriptome dynamics throughout developmental time across distant species reveals a mid-developmental transition under strong developmental constraints. These studies highlight the efficiency of exploratory data analysis using computational tools and comparative approaches for discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itai Yanai
- Institute for Computational Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
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40
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Coutinho CC, Rosa IDA, Teixeira JDDO, Andrade LR, Costa ML, Mermelstein C. Cellular migration, transition and interaction during regeneration of the sponge Hymeniacidon heliophila. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0178350. [PMID: 28542651 PMCID: PMC5444830 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2016] [Accepted: 05/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sponges have a high capacity for regeneration and this process improves biomass production in some species, thus contributing to a solution for the biomass supply problem for biotechnological applications. The aim of this work is to characterize the dynamics of cell behavior during the initial stages of sponge regeneration, using bright-field microscopy, confocal microscopy and SEM. We focused on the first 20 h of regeneration, during which blastema formation and epithelium initialization occur. An innovative sponge organotypic culture of the regenerating internal region is described and investigated by confocal microscopy, cell transplantation and vital staining. Cell-cell interaction and cell density are shown to affect events in morphogenesis such as epithelial/mesenchymal and mesenchymal/epithelial transitions as well as distinct cell movements required for regeneration. Extracellular matrix was organized according to the morphogenetic process observed, with evidence for cell-signaling instructions and remodeling. These data and the method of organotypic culture described here provide support for the development of viable sponge biomass production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristiano C. Coutinho
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Ivone de Andrade Rosa
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Leonardo R. Andrade
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Manoel Luis Costa
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Claudia Mermelstein
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- * E-mail:
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41
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Abstract
The first animals evolved from an unknown single-celled ancestor in the Precambrian period. Recently, the identification and characterization of the genomic and cellular traits of the protists most closely related to animals have shed light on the origin of animals. Comparisons of animals with these unicellular relatives allow us to reconstruct the first evolutionary steps towards animal multicellularity. Here, we review the results of these investigations and discuss their implications for understanding the earliest stages of animal evolution, including the origin of metazoan genes and genome function.
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42
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Gaiti F, Jindrich K, Fernandez-Valverde SL, Roper KE, Degnan BM, Tanurdžić M. Landscape of histone modifications in a sponge reveals the origin of animal cis-regulatory complexity. eLife 2017; 6:22194. [PMID: 28395144 PMCID: PMC5429095 DOI: 10.7554/elife.22194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2016] [Accepted: 03/27/2017] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Combinatorial patterns of histone modifications regulate developmental and cell type-specific gene expression and underpin animal complexity, but it is unclear when this regulatory system evolved. By analysing histone modifications in a morphologically-simple, early branching animal, the sponge Amphimedonqueenslandica, we show that the regulatory landscape used by complex bilaterians was already in place at the dawn of animal multicellularity. This includes distal enhancers, repressive chromatin and transcriptional units marked by H3K4me3 that vary with levels of developmental regulation. Strikingly, Amphimedon enhancers are enriched in metazoan-specific microsyntenic units, suggesting that their genomic location is extremely ancient and likely to place constraints on the evolution of surrounding genes. These results suggest that the regulatory foundation for spatiotemporal gene expression evolved prior to the divergence of sponges and eumetazoans, and was necessary for the evolution of animal multicellularity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Gaiti
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Katia Jindrich
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | | | - Kathrein E Roper
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Bernard M Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Miloš Tanurdžić
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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43
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Leung MCK, Procter AC, Goldstone JV, Foox J, DeSalle R, Mattingly CJ, Siddall ME, Timme-Laragy AR. Applying evolutionary genetics to developmental toxicology and risk assessment. Reprod Toxicol 2017; 69:174-186. [PMID: 28267574 PMCID: PMC5829367 DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2017.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2016] [Revised: 02/27/2017] [Accepted: 03/02/2017] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Evolutionary thinking continues to challenge our views on health and disease. Yet, there is a communication gap between evolutionary biologists and toxicologists in recognizing the connections among developmental pathways, high-throughput screening, and birth defects in humans. To increase our capability in identifying potential developmental toxicants in humans, we propose to apply evolutionary genetics to improve the experimental design and data interpretation with various in vitro and whole-organism models. We review five molecular systems of stress response and update 18 consensual cell-cell signaling pathways that are the hallmark for early development, organogenesis, and differentiation; and revisit the principles of teratology in light of recent advances in high-throughput screening, big data techniques, and systems toxicology. Multiscale systems modeling plays an integral role in the evolutionary approach to cross-species extrapolation. Phylogenetic analysis and comparative bioinformatics are both valuable tools in identifying and validating the molecular initiating events that account for adverse developmental outcomes in humans. The discordance of susceptibility between test species and humans (ontogeny) reflects their differences in evolutionary history (phylogeny). This synthesis not only can lead to novel applications in developmental toxicity and risk assessment, but also can pave the way for applying an evo-devo perspective to the study of developmental origins of health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell C K Leung
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
| | - Andrew C Procter
- Institute for Advanced Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
| | - Jared V Goldstone
- Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
| | - Jonathan Foox
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, United States
| | - Robert DeSalle
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, United States
| | - Carolyn J Mattingly
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
| | - Mark E Siddall
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, United States
| | - Alicia R Timme-Laragy
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States
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44
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Abstract
The leap from simple unicellularity to complex multicellularity remains one of life's major enigmas. The origins of metazoan developmental gene regulatory mechanisms are sought by analyzing gene regulation in extant eumetazoans, sponges, and unicellular organisms. The main hypothesis of this manuscript is that, developmental enhancers evolved from unicellular inducible promoters that diversified the expression of regulatory genes during metazoan evolution. Promoters and enhancers are functionally similar; both can regulate the transcription of distal promoters and both direct local transcription. Additionally, enhancers have experimentally characterized structural features that reveal their origin from inducible promoters. The distal co-operative regulation among promoters identified in unicellular opisthokonts possibly represents the precursor of distal regulation of promoters by enhancers. During metazoan evolution, constitutive-type promoters of regulatory genes would have acquired novel receptivity to distal regulatory inputs from promoters of inducible genes that eventually specialized as enhancers. The novel regulatory interactions would have caused constitutively expressed genes controlling differential gene expression in unicellular organisms to become themselves differentially expressed. The consequence of the novel regulatory interactions was that regulatory pathways of unicellular organisms became interlaced and ultimately evolved into the intricate developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs) of extant metazoans.
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Affiliation(s)
- César Arenas-Mena
- Department of Biology, College of Staten Island and Graduate Center, The City University of New York (CUNY), Staten Island, NY 10314, USA
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45
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Ueda N, Richards GS, Degnan BM, Kranz A, Adamska M, Croll RP, Degnan SM. An ancient role for nitric oxide in regulating the animal pelagobenthic life cycle: evidence from a marine sponge. Sci Rep 2016; 6:37546. [PMID: 27874071 PMCID: PMC5118744 DOI: 10.1038/srep37546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2015] [Accepted: 11/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In many marine invertebrates, larval metamorphosis is induced by environmental cues that activate sensory receptors and signalling pathways. Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous signalling molecule that regulates metamorphosis in diverse bilaterians. In most cases NO inhibits or represses this process, although it functions as an activator in some species. Here we demonstrate that NO positively regulates metamorphosis in the poriferan Amphimedon queenslandica. High rates of A. queenslandica metamorphosis normally induced by a coralline alga are inhibited by an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and by a NO scavenger. Consistent with this, an artificial donor of NO induces metamorphosis even in the absence of the alga. Inhibition of the ERK signalling pathway prevents metamorphosis in concert with, or downstream of, NO signalling; a NO donor cannot override the ERK inhibitor. NOS gene expression is activated late in embryogenesis and in larvae, and is enriched in specific epithelial and subepithelial cell types, including a putative sensory cell, the globular cell; DAF-FM staining supports these cells being primary sources of NO. Together, these results are consistent with NO playing an activating role in induction of A. queenslandica metamorphosis, evidence of its highly conserved regulatory role in metamorphosis throughout the Metazoa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nobuo Ueda
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Gemma S. Richards
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Bernard M. Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Alexandrea Kranz
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Maja Adamska
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Roger P. Croll
- Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Sandie M. Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
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46
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Barfield S, Aglyamova GV, Matz MV. Evolutionary origins of germline segregation in Metazoa: evidence for a germ stem cell lineage in the coral Orbicella faveolata (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:rspb.2015.2128. [PMID: 26763699 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to segregate a committed germ stem cell (GSC) lineage distinct from somatic cell lineages is a characteristic of bilaterian Metazoans. However, the occurrence of GSC lineage specification in basally branching Metazoan phyla, such as Cnidaria, is uncertain. Without an independently segregated GSC lineage, germ cells and their precursors must be specified throughout adulthood from continuously dividing somatic stem cells, generating the risk of propagating somatic mutations within the individual and its gametes. To address the potential for existence of a GSC lineage in Anthozoa, the sister-group to all remaining Cnidaria, we identified moderate- to high-frequency somatic mutations and their potential for gametic transfer in the long-lived coral Orbicella faveolata (Anthozoa, Cnidaria) using a 2b-RAD sequencing approach. Our results demonstrate that somatic mutations can drift to high frequencies (up to 50%) and can also generate substantial intracolonial genetic diversity. However, these somatic mutations are not transferable to gametes, signifying the potential for an independently segregated GSC lineage in O. faveolata. In conjunction with previous research on germ cell development in other basally branching Metazoan species, our results suggest that the GSC system may be a Eumetazoan characteristic that evolved in association with the emergence of greater complexity in animal body plan organization and greater specificity of stem cell functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Barfield
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Galina V Aglyamova
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Mikhail V Matz
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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47
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Adamska M. Sponges as models to study emergence of complex animals. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2016; 39:21-28. [PMID: 27318691 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2016.05.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2016] [Revised: 04/20/2016] [Accepted: 05/30/2016] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The emergence of complex animal life forms remains poorly understood despite substantial interest and research in this area. To be informative, the ideal models to study transitions from single-cell organisms to the first animals and then to mammalian-level complexity should be phylogenetically strategically placed and retain ancestral characters. Sponges (Porifera) are likely to be the earliest branching animal phylum. When analysed from morphological, genomic and developmental perspectives, sponges appear to combine features of single-cell eukaryotic organisms and the complex multicellular animals (Eumetazoa). Intriguingly, homologues of components of the eumetazoan regulatory networks specifying the endoderm, the germ-cells and stem cells and (neuro) sensory cells are expressed in sponge choanocytes, archaeocytes and larval sensory cells. Studies using sponges as model systems are already bringing insights into animal evolution, and have opened avenues to further research benefitting from the recent spectacular expansion of genomic technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maja Adamska
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
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48
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Kozin VV, Kostyuchenko RP. Evolutionary conservation and variability of the mesoderm development in spiralia: A peculiar pattern of nereid polychaetes. BIOL BULL+ 2016. [DOI: 10.1134/s1062359016030079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
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49
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Sogabe S, Nakanishi N, Degnan BM. The ontogeny of choanocyte chambers during metamorphosis in the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica. EvoDevo 2016; 7:6. [PMID: 26958337 PMCID: PMC4782300 DOI: 10.1186/s13227-016-0042-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 02/10/2016] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aquiferous body plan of poriferans revolves around internal chambers comprised of choanocytes, a cell type structurally similar to choanoflagellates. These choanocyte chambers perform a range of physiological and developmental functions, including the capture of food and the generation of stem cells. Despite the increasing interest for choanocytes as sponge stem cells, there is limited knowledge on the development of choanocyte chambers. Using a combination of cell lineage tracing, antibody staining and EdU labeling, here we examine the development of choanocytes and the chambers they comprise during metamorphosis in the marine demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica. RESULTS Lineage-tracing experiments show that larval epithelial cells transform into mesenchymal pluripotent stem cells, resembling archeocytes, within 24 h of initiating metamorphosis. By 36 h, some of these labeled archeocyte-like cells have differentiated into choanocytes that will form the first postlarval choanocyte chambers. Non-labeled cells also contribute to these primary choanocyte chambers, consistent with these chambers being a chimera of multiple transdifferentiated larval cell types and not the proliferation of a single choanocyte precursor. Moreover, cell proliferation assays demonstrate that, following the initial formation of choanocyte chambers, chambers grow at least partially by the proliferation of choanocytes within the chamber, although recruitment of individual cells into established chambers also appears to occur. EdU labeling of postlarvae and juveniles reveals that choanocyte chambers are the primary location of cell proliferation during metamorphosis. CONCLUSION Our results show that multiple larval cell lineages typically contribute to formation of individual choanocyte chambers at metamorphosis, contrary to previous reports in other species that show sponge choanocyte chambers form clonally. Choanocytes in postlarval and juvenile A. queenslandica chambers can also divide, with choanocyte chambers being the primary location of cell proliferation. Interestingly, the level of cell proliferation varies greatly between chambers and appears to be contingent on the size, location and developmental state of the chamber. Small chambers on the periphery of the body tend to possess more dividing cells. As choanocytes can also dedifferentiate into archeocyte-like cells, cell proliferation in chambers may not only contribute to chamber growth and self-renewal but also increase the number of pluripotent archeocytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shunsuke Sogabe
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia
| | - Nagayasu Nakanishi
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia
| | - Bernard M Degnan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia
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Murata A, Hayashi SI. Notch-Mediated Cell Adhesion. BIOLOGY 2016; 5:biology5010005. [PMID: 26784245 PMCID: PMC4810162 DOI: 10.3390/biology5010005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2015] [Revised: 01/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/13/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Notch family members are generally recognized as signaling molecules that control various cellular responses in metazoan organisms. Early fly studies and our mammalian studies demonstrated that Notch family members are also cell adhesion molecules; however, information on the physiological roles of this function and its origin is limited. In this review, we discuss the potential present and ancestral roles of Notch-mediated cell adhesion in order to explore its origin and the initial roles of Notch family members dating back to metazoan evolution. We hypothesize that Notch family members may have initially emerged as cell adhesion molecules in order to mediate multicellularity in the last common ancestor of metazoan organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akihiko Murata
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Immunology, School of Life Science, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Tottori 683-8503, Japan.
| | - Shin-Ichi Hayashi
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Immunology, School of Life Science, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Tottori 683-8503, Japan.
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