Cross references: Eukaryotes
Eukaryote Colonies Parazoa Abstract: Placozoa Coelenterata Proifera - Sponges (Wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponge "It is generally thought that sponges' closest single-celled relatives are choanoflagellates, which strongly resemble the cells that sponges use to drive their water flow systems and capture most of their food. It is also ... thought that Eumetazoa (more complex animals) are descendants of a sub-group of sponges." "Like cnidarians (jellyfish, etc.) and ctenophores (comb jellies), and unlike all other known metazoans, sponges' bodies consist of a non-living jelly-like mass sandwiched between two main layers of cells.[4][5] 1988 Locomotion of sponges and its physical mechanism. (PubMed) "Active locomotion by individual marine and freshwater sponges across glass, plastic and rubber substrata has been studied in relation to the behavior of the sponges' component cells. Sequential tracing of sponge outlines on aquarium walls shows that sponges can crawl up to 160 microns/hr (4 mm/day). Time-lapse cinemicrography and scanning electron microscopy reveal that moving sponges possess distinctive leading edges composed of motile cells. Sponge locomotion was found to be mechanically similar to the spreading of cell sheets in tissue culture both with respect to exertion of traction (which causes the wrinkling of rubber substrata) and with respect to the patterns of adhesive contacts formed with the substratum (as observed by interference reflection microscopy). Other similarities include the orientation of sponge locomotion along grooves and the preferential extension onto more adhesive substrata. Neither the patterns of wrinkling produced in rubber substrata nor the distributions of adhesive contacts seen by interference reflection microscopy show evidence of periodic, propagating waves of surface contractions, such as would be expected if the sponges' mechanism of locomotion were by peristalsis or locomotory waves. Our observations suggest that the displacement of sponges is achieved by the cumulative crawling locomotion of the cells that compose the sponge's lower surface. This mode of organismal locomotion suggests new explanations for the plasticity of sponge morphology, seems not to have been reported from other metazoans, and has significant ecological implications." 2006 Neuroactive substances specifically modulate rhythmic body contractions in the nerveless metazoon Tethya wilhelma (Demospongiae, Porifera) (PubMed) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16643651 "Our study demonstrates that a number of chemical messengers, agonists and antagonists induce contraction and/or modulate the endogenous contraction rhythm and amplitude of our nerveless model metazoon T. wilhelma. We conclude that a relatively complex system of chemical messengers regulates the contraction behaviour through auto- and paracrine signalling, which is presented in a hypothetical model. We assume that adrenergic, adenosynergic and glycinergic pathways, as well as pathways based on NO and extracellular cAMP are candidates for the regulation and timing of the endogenous contraction rhythm within pacemaker cells, while GABA, glutamate and serotonine are candidates for the direct coordination of the contractile cells." Full length article available online for free. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1502136/?tool=pubmed "Sponges (Porifera) are nerve- and muscleless metazoa, but display coordinated motor reactions. Therefore, they represent a valuable phylum to investigate coordination systems, which evolved in a hypothetical Urmetazoon prior to the central nervous system (CNS) of later metazoa. Despite the fact, that sponges do not posses muscles and a nervous system, they are able to react upon external stimuli [5-7], to move [7-10], to contract [summarised in 7], and display diurnal rhythms [7,11]. We have chosen the contractile and locomotive species Tethya wilhelma (Demospongiae, Hadromerida) as a model system for our research ..." "Sponge body contraction of T. wilhelma was induced by caffeine, glycine, serotonine, nitric oxide (NO) and extracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)." "We assume that adrenergic, adenosynergic and glycinergic pathways, as well as pathways based on NO and extracellular cAMP are candidates for the regulation and timing of the endogenous contraction rhythm within pacemaker cells, while GABA, glutamate and serotonine are candidates for the direct coordination of the contractile cells." "... serotonine immediately induced contractions ..." "... we conclude that a relatively complex system of chemical messengers regulates the contraction behaviour through auto- and paracrine signalling, acting upon specific receptor systems." My comment: GABA, glutamate and serotonine are actually neurotransmitters rather than hormones, but this is still a major step forward. CotA: Porifera 160728 - 2239 |