HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (19) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Amano, S. Articles by Hori, I. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Amano, S. Articles by Hori, I. Related Collections Development Sponges

Metamorphosis of Coeloblastula Performed by Multipotential Larval Flagellated Cells in the Calcareous Sponge Leucosolenia laxa

¹ Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0934
² Department of Biology, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Ishikawa 920-0265, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: samano{at}kenroku.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

The calcareous sponge Leucosolenia laxa releases free-swimming hollow larvae called coeloblastulae that are the characteristic larvae of the subclass Calcinea. Although the coeloblastula is a major type of sponge larva, our knowledge about its development is scanty. Detailed electron microscopic studies on the metamorphosis of the coeloblastula revealed that the larva consists of four types of cells: flagellated cells, bottle cells, vesicular cells, and free cells in a central cavity. The flagellated cells, the principal cell type of the larva, are arranged in a pseudostratified layer around a large central cavity. The larval flagellated cells characteristically have glutinous granules that are used as internal markers during metamorphosis. After a free-swimming period the larva settles on the substratum, and settlement apparently triggers the initiation of metamorphosis. The larval flagellated cells soon lose their flagellum and begin the process of dedifferentiation. Then the larva becomes a mass of dedifferentiated cells in which many autophagosomes are found. Within 18 h after settlement, the cells at the surface of the cell mass differentiate to pinacocytes. The cells beneath the pinacoderm differentiate to scleroblasts that form triradiate spicules. Finally, the cells of the inner cell mass differentiate to choanocytes and are arranged in a choanoderm that surrounds a newly formed large gastral cavity. We found glutinous granules in these three principal cell types of juvenile sponges, thus indicating the multipotency of the flagellated cells of the coeloblastula.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. A. Sperling, D. Pisani, and K. J. Peterson Poriferan paraphyly and its implications for Precambrian palaeobiology Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2007; 286(1): 355 - 368. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. P. Leys and D. Eerkes-Medrano Gastrulation in Calcareous Sponges: In Search of Haeckel's Gastraea Integr. Comp. Biol., April 1, 2005; 45(2): 342 - 351. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]