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    Home > Active Ingredient News > Study of Nervous System > The diversity of cells in the sponge sheds light on the evolution of the nervous system|Science Weekly Selection

    The diversity of cells in the sponge sheds light on the evolution of the nervous system|Science Weekly Selection

    • Last Update: 2021-11-14
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    According to a new study, the specialized cells in the digestive chamber of the sponge (our furthest animal relative) may represent the starting point of the evolution of the nervous system
    .

    The authors wrote: "Our work.
    .
    .
    put the sponge at the center of elucidating the evolution of the nervous system
    .

    " Their findings point out that the cells involved in regulating eating and controlling the sponge microbial environment are the precursors of higher-order cellular communication in animals
    .

    The evolutionary origin of the complex and specialized metazoan cell types that can communicate directly with each other is unclear
    .

    Although porous animals and sponges are multicellular, they lack real tissues and organs, nor do they have nerves, digestive or circulatory systems
    .

    Instead, they rely on water circulating through porous bodies to obtain food, oxygen, and discharge waste
    .

    However, despite their simple organization, sponges have genes that are usually expressed in neurons or muscles of more complex animals, as well as genes that our brain uses to establish synaptic connections
    .

    Moreover, they can perform whole-body contractions to remove debris from the body
    .

    The cells that can carry out such coordinated communication in these non-nervous organisms have not yet been discovered, partly because studying the role of genes in these sponge cells has been a technical obstacle
    .

    Jacob Musser and colleagues used whole-body single-cell RNA sequencing to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the cell types in the freshwater sponge (Spongilla lacustris)
    .

    Musser et al.
    discovered 18 different cell types, including some previously unknown, unrecognized, or poorly understood cell types
    .

    For contractile pineal cells, deformed phagocytes, and secretory nerve-like cells, the authors believe that these cells are closely related to digestive collar cells that express important genes in synaptic communication, and they are all located around the digestive chamber of the sponge
    .

    Related X-rays and electron microscopy of nerve-like cells show that specialized cells that support cell communication around the digestive chamber are used to regulate eating
    .

    Musser et al.
    said that these modules may have become conserved and integrated into the presynaptic and postsynaptic of the animal nervous system
    .

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