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Current Opinion in Genetics &... Aug 2016The 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... (Review)
Review
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.
Topics: Animals; Evolution, Molecular; Gene Regulatory Networks; Genome; Germ Cells; Porifera; Stem Cells
PubMed: 27318691
DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2016.05.026 -
Nature Mar 1997
Topics: Animals; Calcium; Cell Adhesion; Evolution, Molecular; Porifera; Proteoglycans
PubMed: 9069278
DOI: 10.1038/386231b0 -
The Biological Bulletin Feb 2018Sponges (phylum Porifera) traditionally are represented as inactive, sessile filter-feeding animals devoid of any behavior except filtering activity. However, different...
Sponges (phylum Porifera) traditionally are represented as inactive, sessile filter-feeding animals devoid of any behavior except filtering activity. However, different time-lapse techniques demonstrate that sponges are able to show a wide range of coordinated but slow whole-organism behavior. The present study concerns a peculiar type of such behavior in the psychrophilic demosponge Amphilectus lobatus: stolonial movement. During stolonial movement, sponges produce outgrowths (stolons) that crawl along a substrate with a speed of 4.4 ± 2.2 μm min and branch, thus forming a complex net covering a considerable area of a substrate. This net is used by sponges to search for new points with appropriate environmental conditions for individual relocation. After such points are found, all cells of the parental sponge migrate through stolons, leaving a naked parental skeleton, forming one or several filial sponges in the new location. Thus, stolonial movement combines traits of crawling along the substrate and asexual reproduction. This behavior relies on massive cell dedifferentiation followed by coordinated cell migration to the point of new sponge body formation and their subsequent differentiation into specialized cell types.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cell Adhesion; Cell Differentiation; Porifera
PubMed: 29694803
DOI: 10.1086/697113 -
Canadian Journal of Microbiology Jan 2023Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the leading global health issues that demand urgent attention. Very soon the world will have to bear the consequences of... (Review)
Review
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the leading global health issues that demand urgent attention. Very soon the world will have to bear the consequences of increased drug resistance if new anti-infectives are not pumped into the clinical pipeline in a short period. This presses on the need for novel chemical entities, and the marine environment is one such hotspot to look for. The Ocean harbours a variety of organisms, of which from this aspect, "Sponges (Phylum Porifera)" are of particular interest. To tackle the stresses faced due to their sessile and filter-feeding lifestyle, sponges produce various bioactive compounds, which can be tapped for human use. The sponges harbour several microorganisms of different types and in most cases; the microbial symbionts are the actual producers of the bioactive compounds. This review describes the alarming need for the development of new antimicrobials and how marine sponges can contribute to this. Selected antimicrobial compounds from the marine sponges and their associated bacteria have been described. Additionally, measures to tackle the supply problem have been covered, which is the primary obstacle in marine natural product drug discovery.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Porifera; Anti-Infective Agents; Bacteria; Biological Products
PubMed: 36288610
DOI: 10.1139/cjm-2022-0147 -
Zoology (Jena, Germany) Feb 2011Sponges are one of the simplest, and probably the oldest (earliest branching) multicellular lineage of extant animals. Although their embryonic development has been... (Review)
Review
Sponges are one of the simplest, and probably the oldest (earliest branching) multicellular lineage of extant animals. Although their embryonic development has been intensively studied in the late 19th and early 20th century, they have been mostly neglected by modern developmental biology. Recent interest in the evolution of development, aided by advances in sequencing technology, has brought the sponges back into the spotlight. It is known that the developmental toolkit of sponges includes signalling pathways, transcription factors and cell adhesion molecules that are employed during development of more complex animals (i.e. bilaterians). We are now beginning to understand how these conserved regulatory genes are used during the development of sponges. Methodological resources are now being developed for model species representing all major sponge lineages, potentially allowing us to gain insight into the evolutionary origin of animal developmental mechanisms.
Topics: Animals; Biological Evolution; Conserved Sequence; Phylogeny; Porifera; Wnt Proteins
PubMed: 21237625
DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2010.10.003 -
Nature Jun 2024Sponges are the most basal metazoan phylum and may have played important roles in modulating the redox architecture of Neoproterozoic oceans. Although molecular clocks...
Sponges are the most basal metazoan phylum and may have played important roles in modulating the redox architecture of Neoproterozoic oceans. Although molecular clocks predict that sponges diverged in the Neoproterozoic era, their fossils have not been unequivocally demonstrated before the Cambrian period, possibly because Precambrian sponges were aspiculate and non-biomineralized. Here we describe a late-Ediacaran fossil, Helicolocellus cantori gen. et sp. nov., from the Dengying Formation (around 551-539 million years ago) of South China. This fossil is reconstructed as a large, stemmed benthic organism with a goblet-shaped body more than 0.4 m in height, with a body wall consisting of at least three orders of nested grids defined by quadrate fields, resembling a Cantor dust fractal pattern. The resulting lattice is interpreted as an organic skeleton comprising orthogonally arranged cruciform elements, architecturally similar to some hexactinellid sponges, although the latter are built with biomineralized spicules. A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis resolves H. cantori as a crown-group sponge related to the Hexactinellida. H. cantori confirms that sponges diverged and existed in the Precambrian as non-biomineralizing animals with an organic skeleton. Considering that siliceous biomineralization may have evolved independently among sponge classes, we question the validity of biomineralized spicules as a necessary criterion for the identification of Precambrian sponge fossils.
Topics: Animals; Porifera; Fossils; Phylogeny; China; Bayes Theorem
PubMed: 38839967
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07520-y -
Natural Product Reports Apr 2006This review presents the structure, biological activity and, where applicable, references to the syntheses of 154 spongian and rearranged spongian diterpenoids isolated... (Review)
Review
This review presents the structure, biological activity and, where applicable, references to the syntheses of 154 spongian and rearranged spongian diterpenoids isolated from marine sponges of the orders Dictyoceratida and Dendroceratida. There have been no studies of the biosynthesis of either spongian diterpenoids or their rearranged derivatives reported in the literature. The potential chemotaxonomic significance of spongian and rearranged spongian ditepenoids is discussed.
Topics: Animals; Diterpenes; Marine Biology; Molecular Structure; Porifera
PubMed: 16572231
DOI: 10.1039/b503531g -
Environmental Microbiology Reports Dec 2020Sponges have co-evolved for millions of years alongside several types of microorganisms, which aside from participating in the animal's diet, are mostly symbionts. Since... (Review)
Review
Sponges have co-evolved for millions of years alongside several types of microorganisms, which aside from participating in the animal's diet, are mostly symbionts. Since most of the genetic repertoire in the holobiont genome is provided by microbes, it is expected that the host-associated microbiome will be at least partially heritable. Sponges can therefore acquire their symbionts in different ways. Both vertical transmission (VT) and horizontal transmission (HT) have different advantages and disadvantages in the life cycle of these invertebrates. However, a third mode of transmission, called leaky vertical transmission or mixed mode of transmission (MMT), which incorporates both VT and HT modes, has gained relevance and seems to be the most robust model. In that regard, the aim of this review is to present the evolving knowledge on these main modes of transmission of the sponge microbiome. Our conclusions lead us to suggest that MMT may be more common for all sponges, with its frequency varying across the transmission spectrum between species and the environment. This hybrid model supports the stable and specific transmission of these microbial partners and reinforces their assistance in the resilience of sponges over the years.
Topics: Animals; Bacteria; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Microbiota; Models, Biological; Phylogeny; Porifera; Symbiosis
PubMed: 33048474
DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.12896 -
Current Topics in Developmental Biology 1975
Review
Topics: Agglutination; Animals; Cell Adhesion; Cell Aggregation; Macromolecular Substances; Porifera; Species Specificity
PubMed: 1104274
DOI: 10.1016/s0070-2153(08)60040-x -
Zootaxa Oct 2016The carnivorous sponge family Cladorhizidae has been subject to several recent studies, yet the cladorhizid fauna of the Caribbean and adjacent areas remain...
The carnivorous sponge family Cladorhizidae has been subject to several recent studies, yet the cladorhizid fauna of the Caribbean and adjacent areas remain comparatively poorly known. In this article we provide a description of the novel species Abyssocladia polycephalus sp. nov. from the Muir Seamount NE of Bermuda, belonging to the mainly Pacific genus Abyssocladia, and Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) caribica sp. nov. from the Beata Ridge. Additionally, we provide a re-description of the poorly known species Chondrocladia (Chondrocladia) verticillata Topsent, 1920, and compare this species with the closely related species C. (C.) concrescens Schmidt, 1880. Finally, we provide a brief overview of the carnivorous sponges known from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and adjacent Atlantic Ocean.
Topics: Animals; Atlantic Ocean; Caribbean Region; Porifera; Species Specificity
PubMed: 27811738
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4175.6.2