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Bibliography on: Origin of Multicellular Eukaryotes

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ESP: PubMed Auto Bibliography 31 Aug 2026 at 01:47 Created: 

Origin of Multicellular Eukaryotes

Created with PubMed® Query: ( (origin OR evolution) AND (eukaryotes OR eukaryota) AND (multicelluarity OR multicellular) NOT 33634751[PMID] ) NOT pmcbook NOT ispreviousversion

Citations The Papers (from PubMed®)

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RevDate: 2020-02-25
CmpDate: 2020-01-08

Robu A, Mironov V, A Neagu (2019)

Using Sacrificial Cell Spheroids for the Bioprinting of Perfusable 3D Tissue and Organ Constructs: A Computational Study.

Computational and mathematical methods in medicine, 2019:7853586.

A long-standing problem in tissue engineering is the biofabrication of perfusable tissue constructs that can be readily connected to the patient's vasculature. It was partially solved by three-dimensional (3D) printing of sacrificial material (e.g., hydrogel) strands: upon incorporation in another cell-laden hydrogel, the strands were removed, leaving behind perfusable channels. Their complexity, however, did not match that of the native vasculature. Here, we propose to use multicellular spheroids as a sacrificial material and investigate their potential benefits in the context of 3D bioprinting of cell aggregates and/or cell-laden hydrogels. Our study is based on computer simulations of postprinting cellular rearrangements. The computational model of the biological system is built on a cubic lattice, whereas its evolution is simulated using the Metropolis Monte Carlo algorithm. The simulations describe structural changes in three types of tissue constructs: a tube made of a single cell type, a tube made of two cell types, and a cell-laden hydrogel slab that incorporates a branching tube. In all three constructs, the lumen is obtained after the elimination of the sacrificial cell population. Our study suggests that sacrificial cell spheroids (sacrospheres) enable one to print tissue constructs outfitted with a finer and more complex network of channels than the ones obtained so far. Moreover, cellular interactions might give rise to a tissue microarchitecture that lies beyond the bioprinter's resolution. Although more expensive than inert materials, sacrificial cells have the potential to bring further progress towards the biofabrication of fully vascularized tissue substitutes.

RevDate: 2020-01-17
CmpDate: 2019-10-28

Ågren JA, Davies NG, KR Foster (2019)

Enforcement is central to the evolution of cooperation.

Nature ecology & evolution, 3(7):1018-1029.

Cooperation occurs at all levels of life, from genomes, complex cells and multicellular organisms to societies and mutualisms between species. A major question for evolutionary biology is what these diverse systems have in common. Here, we review the full breadth of cooperative systems and find that they frequently rely on enforcement mechanisms that suppress selfish behaviour. We discuss many examples, including the suppression of transposable elements, uniparental inheritance of mitochondria and plastids, anti-cancer mechanisms, reciprocation and punishment in humans and other vertebrates, policing in eusocial insects and partner choice in mutualisms between species. To address a lack of accompanying theory, we develop a series of evolutionary models that show that the enforcement of cooperation is widely predicted. We argue that enforcement is an underappreciated, and often critical, ingredient for cooperation across all scales of biological organization.

RevDate: 2020-05-07
CmpDate: 2020-05-07

Etxebeste O, Otamendi A, Garzia A, et al (2019)

Rewiring of transcriptional networks as a major event leading to the diversity of asexual multicellularity in fungi.

Critical reviews in microbiology, 45(5-6):548-563.

Complex multicellularity (CM) is characterized by the generation of three-dimensional structures that follow a genetically controlled program. CM emerged at least five times in evolution, one of them in fungi. There are two types of CM programs in fungi, leading, respectively, to the formation of sexual or asexual spores. Asexual spores foment the spread of mycoses, as they are the main vehicle for dispersion. In spite of this key dependence, there is great morphological diversity of asexual multicellular structures in fungi. To advance the understanding of the mechanisms that control initiation and progression of asexual CM and how they can lead to such a remarkable morphological diversification, we studied 503 fungal proteomes, representing all phyla and subphyla, and most known classes. Conservation analyses of 33 regulators of asexual development suggest stepwise emergence of transcription factors. While velvet proteins constitute one of the most ancient systems, the central regulator BrlA emerged late in evolution (with the class Eurotiomycetes). Some factors, such as MoConX4, seem to be species-specific. These observations suggest that the emergence and evolution of transcriptional regulators rewire transcriptional networks. This process could reach the species level, resulting in a vast diversity of morphologies.

RevDate: 2021-03-03
CmpDate: 2019-10-28

Staps M, van Gestel J, CE Tarnita (2019)

Emergence of diverse life cycles and life histories at the origin of multicellularity.

Nature ecology & evolution, 3(8):1197-1205.

The evolution of multicellularity has given rise to a remarkable diversity of multicellular life cycles and life histories. Whereas some multicellular organisms are long-lived, grow through cell division, and repeatedly release single-celled propagules (for example, animals), others are short-lived, form by aggregation, and propagate only once, by generating large numbers of solitary cells (for example, cellular slime moulds). There are no systematic studies that explore how diverse multicellular life cycles can come about. Here, we focus on the origin of multicellularity and develop a mechanistic model to examine the primitive life cycles that emerge from a unicellular ancestor when an ancestral gene is co-opted for cell adhesion. Diverse life cycles readily emerge, depending on ecological conditions, group-forming mechanism, and ancestral constraints. Among these life cycles, we recapitulate both extremes of long-lived groups that propagate continuously and short-lived groups that propagate only once, with the latter type of life cycle being particularly favoured when groups can form by aggregation. Our results show how diverse life cycles and life histories can easily emerge at the origin of multicellularity, shaped by ancestral constraints and ecological conditions. Beyond multicellularity, this finding has similar implications for other major transitions, such as the evolution of sociality.

RevDate: 2024-04-19
CmpDate: 2020-08-24

Rezaei-Lotfi S, Hunter N, RM Farahani (2019)

Coupled cycling programs multicellular self-organization of neural progenitors.

Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.), 18(17):2040-2054.

Self-organization is central to the morphogenesis of multicellular organisms. However, the molecular platform that coordinates the robust emergence of complex morphological patterns from local interactions between cells remains unresolved. Here we demonstrate that neural self- organization is driven by coupled cycling of progenitor cells. In a coupled cycling mode, intercellular contacts relay extrinsic cues to override the intrinsic cycling rhythm of an individual cell and synchronize the population. The stringency of coupling and hence the synchronicity of the population is programmed by recruitment of a key coupler, β-catenin, into junctional complexes. As such, multicellular self-organization is driven by the same basic mathematical principle that governs synchronized behavior of macro-scale biological systems as diverse as the synchronized chirping of crickets, flashing of fireflies and schooling of fish; that is synchronization by coupling. It is proposed that coupled cycling foreshadows a fundamental adaptive change that facilitated evolution and diversification of multicellular life forms.

RevDate: 2023-10-13
CmpDate: 2020-02-13

Joukov V, A De Nicolo (2019)

The Centrosome and the Primary Cilium: The Yin and Yang of a Hybrid Organelle.

Cells, 8(7):.

Centrosomes and primary cilia are usually considered as distinct organelles, although both are assembled with the same evolutionary conserved, microtubule-based templates, the centrioles. Centrosomes serve as major microtubule- and actin cytoskeleton-organizing centers and are involved in a variety of intracellular processes, whereas primary cilia receive and transduce environmental signals to elicit cellular and organismal responses. Understanding the functional relationship between centrosomes and primary cilia is important because defects in both structures have been implicated in various diseases, including cancer. Here, we discuss evidence that the animal centrosome evolved, with the transition to complex multicellularity, as a hybrid organelle comprised of the two distinct, but intertwined, structural-functional modules: the centriole/primary cilium module and the pericentriolar material/centrosome module. The evolution of the former module may have been caused by the expanding cellular diversification and intercommunication, whereas that of the latter module may have been driven by the increasing complexity of mitosis and the requirement for maintaining cell polarity, individuation, and adhesion. Through its unique ability to serve both as a plasma membrane-associated primary cilium organizer and a juxtanuclear microtubule-organizing center, the animal centrosome has become an ideal integrator of extracellular and intracellular signals with the cytoskeleton and a switch between the non-cell autonomous and the cell-autonomous signaling modes. In light of this hypothesis, we discuss centrosome dynamics during cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation and propose a model of centrosome-driven microtubule assembly in mitotic and interphase cells. In addition, we outline the evolutionary benefits of the animal centrosome and highlight the hierarchy and modularity of the centrosome biogenesis networks.

RevDate: 2020-07-29
CmpDate: 2020-07-29

Newman SA (2019)

Inherency and homomorphy in the evolution of development.

Current opinion in genetics & development, 57:1-8.

Organismal development occurs when expression of certain genes leads to the mobilization of physical forces and effects that shape and pattern multicellular clusters. All materials exhibit preferred forms, but the inherent morphological motifs of some, such as liquids and crystalline solids are well-characterized. Recent work has shown that the origin of the animals (Metazoa) was accompanied by the acquisition by their developing tissues of liquid-like and liquid-crystalline properties. This and the novel capacity to produce stiff internal substrata (basal laminae) set these organisms apart from their closest relatives by the propensity (predictable from their material nature) to form complex bodies and organs. Once functional forms became established, however, they were susceptible to further genetic change as well as partial or full supplanting of original physical determinants by different ones. This results in the increasingly recognized phenomenon of homomorphy, the presence of the same structure in descendent organisms, brought about by transformed developmental mechanisms.

RevDate: 2023-10-13
CmpDate: 2019-12-19

Karolak A, Poonja S, KA Rejniak (2019)

Morphophenotypic classification of tumor organoids as an indicator of drug exposure and penetration potential.

PLoS computational biology, 15(7):e1007214.

The dynamics of tumor progression is driven by multiple factors, which can be exogenous to the tumor (microenvironment) or intrinsic (genetic, epigenetic or due to intercellular interactions). While tumor heterogeneity has been extensively studied on the level of cell genetic profiles or cellular composition, tumor morphological diversity has not been given as much attention. The limited analysis of tumor morphophenotypes may be attributed to the lack of accurate models, both experimental and computational, capable of capturing changes in tumor morphology with fine levels of spatial detail. Using a three-dimensional, agent-based, lattice-free computational model, we generated a library of multicellular tumor organoids, the experimental analogues of in vivo tumors. By varying three biologically relevant parameters-cell radius, cell division age and cell sensitivity to contact inhibition, we showed that tumor organoids with similar growth dynamics can express distinct morphologies and possess diverse cellular compositions. Taking advantage of the high-resolution of computational modeling, we applied the quantitative measures of compactness and accessible surface area, concepts that originated from the structural biology of proteins. Based on these analyses, we demonstrated that tumor organoids with similar sizes may differ in features associated with drug effectiveness, such as potential exposure to the drug or the extent of drug penetration. Both these characteristics might lead to major differences in tumor organoid's response to therapy. This indicates that therapeutic protocols should not be based solely on tumor size, but take into account additional tumor features, such as their morphology or cellular packing density.

RevDate: 2022-05-12
CmpDate: 2020-06-30

Smith EA, HC Hodges (2019)

The Spatial and Genomic Hierarchy of Tumor Ecosystems Revealed by Single-Cell Technologies.

Trends in cancer, 5(7):411-425.

Many malignancies display heterogeneous features that support cancer progression. Emerging high-resolution methods provide a view of heterogeneity that recognizes the influence of diverse cell types and cell states of the tumor microenvironment. Here we outline a hierarchical organization of tumor heterogeneity from a genomic perspective, summarize the origins of spatially patterned metabolic features, and review recent developments in single-cell and spatially resolved techniques for genome-wide study of multicellular tissues. We also discuss how integrating these approaches can yield new insights into human cancer and emerging immune therapies. Applying these technologies for the analysis of primary tumors, patient-derived xenografts, and in vitro systems holds great promise for understanding the hierarchical structure and environmental influences that underlie tumor ecosystems.

RevDate: 2020-03-12
CmpDate: 2020-03-12

Perez-Lamarque B, H Morlon (2019)

Characterizing symbiont inheritance during host-microbiota evolution: Application to the great apes gut microbiota.

Molecular ecology resources, 19(6):1659-1671.

Microbiota play a central role in the functioning of multicellular life, yet understanding their inheritance during host evolutionary history remains an important challenge. Symbiotic microorganisms are either acquired from the environment during the life of the host (i.e. environmental acquisition), transmitted across generations with a faithful association with their hosts (i.e. strict vertical transmission), or transmitted with occasional host switches (i.e. vertical transmission with horizontal switches). These different modes of inheritance affect microbes' diversification, which at the two extremes can be independent from that of their associated host or follow host diversification. The few existing quantitative tools for investigating the inheritance of symbiotic organisms rely on cophylogenetic approaches, which require knowledge of both host and symbiont phylogenies, and are therefore often not well adapted to DNA metabarcoding microbial data. Here, we develop a model-based framework for identifying vertically transmitted microbial taxa. We consider a model for the evolution of microbial sequences on a fixed host phylogeny that includes vertical transmission and horizontal host switches. This model allows estimating the number of host switches and testing for strict vertical transmission and independent evolution. We test our approach using simulations. Finally, we illustrate our framework on gut microbiota high-throughput sequencing data of the family Hominidae and identify several microbial taxonomic units, including fibrolytic bacteria involved in carbohydrate digestion, that tend to be vertically transmitted.

RevDate: 2019-10-11
CmpDate: 2019-10-08

Guo JS, Zhang Z, Qiao M, et al (2019)

Phalangispora sinensis sp. nov. from Yunnan, China and two new members of Wiesneriomycetaceae.

International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, 69(10):3217-3223.

Phalangispora sinensis, an aquatic hyphomycete collected from south-western PR China, is described as a new species. This new species is characterized by having multicellular branched conidia composed of a curved main axis and one or two laterals, with the laterals arising from the third or fourth cell of the base of the main axis. Combined analyses of the LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF1 gene sequence data revealed that Phalangispora and another aquatic hyphomycete genus, Setosynnema, belonged to Wiesneriomycetaceae, Tubeufiales, Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota.

RevDate: 2020-03-09
CmpDate: 2020-03-02

Lu TM, Kanda M, Furuya H, et al (2019)

Dicyemid Mesozoans: A Unique Parasitic Lifestyle and a Reduced Genome.

Genome biology and evolution, 11(8):2232-2243.

Dicyemids, previously called "mesozoans" (intermediates between unicellular protozoans and multicellular metazoans), are an enigmatic animal group. They have a highly simplified adult body, comprising only ∼30 cells, and they have a unique parasitic lifestyle. Recently, dicyemids were shown to be spiralians, with affinities to the Platyhelminthes. In order to understand molecular mechanisms involved in evolution of this odd animal, we sequenced the genome of Dicyema japonicum and a reference transcriptome assembly using mixed-stage samples. The D. japonicum genome features a high proportion of repetitive sequences that account for 49% of the genome. The dicyemid genome is reduced to ∼67.5 Mb with 5,012 protein-coding genes. Only four Hox genes exist in the genome, with no clustering. Gene distribution in KEGG pathways shows that D. japonicum has fewer genes in most pathways. Instead of eliminating entire critical metabolic pathways, parasitic lineages likely simplify pathways by eliminating pathway-specific genes, while genes with fundamental functions may be retained in multiple pathways. In principle, parasites can stand to lose genes that are unnecessary, in order to conserve energy. However, whether retained genes in incomplete pathways serve intermediate functions and how parasites overcome the physiological needs served by lost genes, remain to be investigated in future studies.

RevDate: 2020-07-31
CmpDate: 2020-06-08

Wessely A, Waltera A, Reichert TE, et al (2019)

Induction of ALP and MMP9 activity facilitates invasive behavior in heterogeneous human BMSC and HNSCC 3D spheroids.

FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 33(11):11884-11893.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitor cells capable of differentiating into adipocytic, osteogenic, chondrogenic, and myogenic lineages. There is growing evidence that MSCs home into the tumor microenvironment attracted by a variety of signals such as chemokines, growth factors, and cytokines. Tumor-homing stem cells may originate from bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs) or adipose tissue-derived MSCs. Recent scientific data suggest that MSCs in combination with tumor cells can either promote or inhibit tumorigenic behavior. In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), BMSCs are reported to be enriched with a potential negative role. Here, we evaluated the effect of BMSCs from 4 different donors in combination with 4 HNSCC cell lines in a 3-dimensional multicellular spheroid model. Heterogeneous combinations revealed an up-regulation of gene and protein expression of osteogenic markers runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) together with a substantial secretion of matrix metalloproteinase 9. Moreover, heterogenous BMSC/tumor spheroids showed increased invasion compared with homogenous spheroids in a Boyden chamber invasion assay. Furthermore, inhibition of ALP resulted in a substantially decreased spreading of heterogeneous spheroids on laminin-rich matrix. In summary, our data suggest a prometastatic effect of BMSCs combined with HNSCC.-Wessely, A., Waltera, A., Reichert, T. E., Stöckl, S., Grässel, S., Bauer, R. J. Induction of ALP and MMP9 activity facilitates invasive behavior in heterogeneous human BMSC and HNSCC 3D-spheroids.

RevDate: 2025-05-30
CmpDate: 2020-01-21

Olin-Sandoval V, Yu JSL, Miller-Fleming L, et al (2019)

Lysine harvesting is an antioxidant strategy and triggers underground polyamine metabolism.

Nature, 572(7768):249-253.

Both single and multicellular organisms depend on anti-stress mechanisms that enable them to deal with sudden changes in the environment, including exposure to heat and oxidants. Central to the stress response are dynamic changes in metabolism, such as the transition from the glycolysis to the pentose phosphate pathway-a conserved first-line response to oxidative insults[1,2]. Here we report a second metabolic adaptation that protects microbial cells in stress situations. The role of the yeast polyamine transporter Tpo1p[3-5] in maintaining oxidant resistance is unknown[6]. However, a proteomic time-course experiment suggests a link to lysine metabolism. We reveal a connection between polyamine and lysine metabolism during stress situations, in the form of a promiscuous enzymatic reaction in which the first enzyme of the polyamine pathway, Spe1p, decarboxylates lysine and forms an alternative polyamine, cadaverine. The reaction proceeds in the presence of extracellular lysine, which is taken up by cells to reach concentrations up to one hundred times higher than those required for growth. Such extensive harvest is not observed for the other amino acids, is dependent on the polyamine pathway and triggers a reprogramming of redox metabolism. As a result, NADPH-which would otherwise be required for lysine biosynthesis-is channelled into glutathione metabolism, leading to a large increase in glutathione concentrations, lower levels of reactive oxygen species and increased oxidant tolerance. Our results show that nutrient uptake occurs not only to enable cell growth, but when the nutrient availability is favourable it also enables cells to reconfigure their metabolism to preventatively mount stress protection.

RevDate: 2020-03-30
CmpDate: 2020-03-30

Newman SA (2019)

Inherent forms and the evolution of evolution.

Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution, 332(8):331-338.

John Bonner presented a provocative conjecture that the means by which organisms evolve has itself evolved. The elements of his postulated nonuniformitarianism in the essay under discussion-the emergence of sex, the enhanced selection pressures on larger multicellular forms-center on a presumed close mapping of genotypic to phenotypic change. A different view emerges from delving into earlier work of Bonner's in which he proposed the concept of "neutral phenotypes" and "neutral morphologies" allied to D'Arcy Thompson's analysis of physical determinants of form and studied the conditional elicitation of intrinsic organizational properties of cell aggregates in social amoebae. By comparing the shared and disparate mechanistic bases of morphogenesis and developmental outcomes in the embryos of metazoans (animals), closely related nonmetazoan holozoans, more distantly related dictyostelids, and very distantly related volvocine algae, I conclude, in agreement with Bonner's earlier proposals, that understanding the evolution of multicellular evolution requires knowledge of the inherent forms of diversifying lineages, and that the relevant causative factors extend beyond genes and adaptation to the physics of materials.

RevDate: 2020-12-17
CmpDate: 2020-12-17

Miller WB, Torday JS, F Baluška (2020)

The N-space Episenome unifies cellular information space-time within cognition-based evolution.

Progress in biophysics and molecular biology, 150:112-139.

Self-referential cellular homeostasis is maintained by the measured assessment of both internal status and external conditions based within an integrated cellular information field. This cellular field attachment to biologic information space-time coordinates environmental inputs by connecting the cellular senome, as the sum of the sensory experiences of the cell, with its genome and epigenome. In multicellular organisms, individual cellular information fields aggregate into a collective information architectural matrix, termed a N-space Episenome, that enables mutualized organism-wide information management. It is hypothesized that biological organization represents a dual heritable system constituted by both its biological materiality and a conjoining N-space Episenome. It is further proposed that morphogenesis derives from reciprocations between these inter-related facets to yield coordinated multicellular growth and development. The N-space Episenome is conceived as a whole cell informational projection that is heritable, transferable via cell division and essential for the synchronous integration of the diverse self-referential cells that constitute holobionts.

RevDate: 2024-07-19
CmpDate: 2020-10-07

Kim HR, CD Jun (2019)

T Cell Microvilli: Sensors or Senders?.

Frontiers in immunology, 10:1753.

Communication between cells is essential for multicellular life. During cognate immune interactions, T cells communicate with antigen-presenting cells (APC) via direct cell-cell contact or the release of molecules and vesicles containing T cell messages. A wide variety of mechanisms have been reported and among them a process called "trogocytosis" has traditionally been thought to be the fastest way to directly transfer membrane portions containing intact proteins from one cell to another; however, the mechanism is unverified. Trogocytosis has been distinguished from the generation of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a term that encompasses exosomes and microvesicles, as EVs are released via a contact-independent manner and are suggested to potentially send molecular messages over a distance. However, some previous reports regarding EVs in T cells may be misleading in terms of explaining their cellular origins. In addition, there is little evidence on how EVs are generated from T cells in vivo and function to regulate complex immune responses. A recent work demonstrated that T cell microvilli-thin and finger-like membrane protrusions-are highly fragile and easily separated as membrane particles by trogocytosis, forming a new class of EVs. Surprisingly, released T cell microvilli-derived particles act as vectors, transmitting T cell messages to cognate APCs. This review focuses on how T cell microvilli vesicles are connected with immune regulation mechanisms discovered previously.

RevDate: 2024-01-09
CmpDate: 2020-11-11

Fan X, Han W, Teng L, et al (2020)

Single-base methylome profiling of the giant kelp Saccharina japonica reveals significant differences in DNA methylation to microalgae and plants.

The New phytologist, 225(1):234-249.

Brown algae have convergently evolved plant-like body plans and reproductive cycles, which in plants are controlled by differential DNA methylation. This contribution provides the first single-base methylome profiles of haploid gametophytes and diploid sporophytes of a multicellular alga. Although only c. 1.4% of cytosines in Saccharina japonica were methylated mainly at CHH sites and characterized by 5-methylcytosine (5mC), there were significant differences between life-cycle stages. DNA methyltransferase 2 (DNMT2), known to efficiently catalyze tRNA methylation, is assumed to methylate the genome of S. japonica in the structural context of tRNAs as the genome does not encode any other DNA methyltransferases. Circular and long noncoding RNA genes were the most strongly methylated regulatory elements in S. japonica. Differential expression of genes was negatively correlated with DNA methylation with the highest methylation levels measured in both haploid gametophytes. Hypomethylated and highly expressed genes in diploid sporophytes included genes involved in morphogenesis and halogen metabolism. The data herein provide evidence that cytosine methylation, although occurring at a low level, is significantly contributing to the formation of different life-cycle stages, tissue differentiation and metabolism in brown algae.

RevDate: 2020-03-09
CmpDate: 2019-10-29

Rozhok A, J DeGregori (2019)

Somatic maintenance impacts the evolution of mutation rate.

BMC evolutionary biology, 19(1):172.

BACKGROUND: The evolution of multi-cellular animals has produced a conspicuous trend toward increased body size. This trend has introduced at least two novel problems: an expected elevated risk of somatic disorders, such as cancer, and declining evolvability due to generally reduced population size, lower reproduction rate and extended generation time. Low population size is widely recognized to explain the high mutation rates in animals by limiting the presumed universally negative selection acting on mutation rates.

RESULTS: Here, we present evidence from stochastic modeling that the direction and strength of selection acting on mutation rates is highly dependent on the evolution of somatic maintenance, and thus longevity, which modulates the cost of somatic mutations.

CONCLUSIONS: We argue that the impact of the evolution of longevity on mutation rates may have been critical in facilitating animal evolution.

RevDate: 2026-01-27
CmpDate: 2020-06-11

Wu F, Ma C, Han B, et al (2019)

Behavioural, physiological and molecular changes in alloparental caregivers may be responsible for selection response for female reproductive investment in honey bees.

Molecular ecology, 28(18):4212-4227.

Reproductive investment is a central life history variable that influences all aspects of life. Hormones coordinate reproduction in multicellular organisms, but the mechanisms controlling the collective reproductive investment of social insects are largely unexplored. One important aspect of honey bee (Apis mellifera) reproductive investment consists of raising female-destined larvae into new queens by alloparental care of nurse bees in form of royal jelly provisioning. Artificial selection for commercial royal jelly production over 40 years has increased this reproductive investment by an order of magnitude. In a cross-fostering experiment, we establish that this shift in social phenotype is caused by nurse bees. We find no evidence for changes in larval signalling. Instead, the antennae of the nurse bees of the selected stock are more responsive to brood pheromones than control bees. Correspondingly, the selected royal jelly bee nurses are more attracted to brood pheromones than unselected control nurses. Comparative proteomics of the antennae from the selected and unselected stocks indicate putative molecular mechanisms, primarily changes in chemosensation and energy metabolism. We report expression differences of several candidate genes that correlate with the differences in reproductive investment. The functional relevance of these genes is supported by demonstrating that the corresponding proteins can competitively bind one previously described and one newly discovered brood pheromone. Thus, we suggest several chemosensory genes, most prominently OBP16 and CSP4, as candidate mechanisms controlling queen rearing, a key reproductive investment, in honey bees. These findings reveal novel aspects of pheromonal communication in honey bees and explain how sensory changes affect communication and lead to a drastic shift in colony-level resource allocation to sexual reproduction. Thus, pheromonal and hormonal communication may play similar roles for reproductive investment in superorganisms and multicellular organisms, respectively.

RevDate: 2019-12-30
CmpDate: 2019-12-30

Annunziata R, Andrikou C, Perillo M, et al (2019)

Development and evolution of gut structures: from molecules to function.

Cell and tissue research, 377(3):445-458.

The emergence of a specialized system for food digestion and nutrient absorption was a crucial innovation for multicellular organisms. Digestive systems with different levels of complexity evolved in different animals, with the endoderm-derived one-way gut of most bilaterians to be the prevailing and more specialized form. While the molecular events regulating the early phases of embryonic tissue specification have been deeply investigated in animals occupying different phylogenetic positions, the mechanisms underlying gut patterning and gut-associated structures differentiation are still mostly obscure. In this review, we describe the main discoveries in gut and gut-associated structures development in echinoderm larvae (mainly for sea urchin and, when available, for sea star) and compare them with existing information in vertebrates. An impressive degree of conservation emerges when comparing the transcription factor toolkits recruited for gut cells and tissue differentiation in animals as diverse as echinoderms and vertebrates, thus suggesting that their function emerged in the deuterostome ancestor.

RevDate: 2025-05-30
CmpDate: 2020-03-05

Bruno L, Ramlall V, Studer RA, et al (2019)

Selective deployment of transcription factor paralogs with submaximal strength facilitates gene regulation in the immune system.

Nature immunology, 20(10):1372-1380.

In multicellular organisms, duplicated genes can diverge through tissue-specific gene expression patterns, as exemplified by highly regulated expression of RUNX transcription factor paralogs with apparent functional redundancy. Here we asked what cell-type-specific biologies might be supported by the selective expression of RUNX paralogs during Langerhans cell and inducible regulatory T cell differentiation. We uncovered functional nonequivalence between RUNX paralogs. Selective expression of native paralogs allowed integration of transcription factor activity with extrinsic signals, while non-native paralogs enforced differentiation even in the absence of exogenous inducers. DNA binding affinity was controlled by divergent amino acids within the otherwise highly conserved RUNT domain and evolutionary reconstruction suggested convergence of RUNT domain residues toward submaximal strength. Hence, the selective expression of gene duplicates in specialized cell types can synergize with the acquisition of functional differences to enable appropriate gene expression, lineage choice and differentiation in the mammalian immune system.

RevDate: 2020-01-17
CmpDate: 2020-01-17

Cleri F (2019)

Agent-based model of multicellular tumor spheroid evolution including cell metabolism.

The European physical journal. E, Soft matter, 42(8):112.

Computational models aiming at the spatio-temporal description of cancer evolution are a suitable framework for testing biological hypotheses from experimental data, and generating new ones. Building on our recent work (J. Theor. Biol. 389, 146 (2016)) we develop a 3D agent-based model, capable of tracking hundreds of thousands of interacting cells, over time scales ranging from seconds to years. Cell dynamics is driven by a Monte Carlo solver, incorporating partial differential equations to describe chemical pathways and the activation/repression of "genes", leading to the up- or down-regulation of specific cell markers. Each cell-agent of different kind (stem, cancer, stromal etc.) runs through its cycle, undergoes division, can exit to a dormant, senescent, necrotic state, or apoptosis, according to the inputs from its systemic network. The basic network at this stage describes glucose/oxygen/ATP cycling, and can be readily extended to cancer-cell specific markers. Eventual accumulation of chemical/radiation damage to each cell's DNA is described by a Markov chain of internal states, and by a damage-repair network, whose evolution is linked to the cell systemic network. Aimed at a direct comparison with experiments of tumorsphere growth from stem cells, the present model will allow to quantitatively study the role of transcription factors involved in the reprogramming and variable radio-resistance of simulated cancer-stem cells, evolving in a realistic computer simulation of a growing multicellular tumorsphere.

RevDate: 2020-08-03
CmpDate: 2020-08-03

Gonçalves AP, Heller J, Span EA, et al (2019)

Allorecognition upon Fungal Cell-Cell Contact Determines Social Cooperation and Impacts the Acquisition of Multicellularity.

Current biology : CB, 29(18):3006-3017.e3.

Somatic cell fusion and conspecific cooperation are crucial social traits for microbial unicellular-to-multicellular transitions, colony expansion, and substrate foraging but are also associated with risks of parasitism. We identified a cell wall remodeling (cwr) checkpoint that acts upon cell contact to assess genetic compatibility and regulate cell wall dissolution during somatic cell fusion in a wild population of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Non-allelic interactions between two linked loci, cwr-1 and cwr-2, were necessary and sufficient to block cell fusion: cwr-1 encodes a polysaccharide monooxygenase (PMO), a class of enzymes associated with extracellular degradative capacities, and cwr-2 encodes a predicted transmembrane protein. Mutations of sites in CWR-1 essential for PMO catalytic activity abolished the block in cell fusion between formerly incompatible strains. In Neurospora, alleles cwr-1 and cwr-2 were highly polymorphic, fell into distinct haplogroups, and showed trans-species polymorphisms. Distinct haplogroups and trans-species polymorphisms at cwr-1 and cwr-2 were also identified in the distantly related genus Fusarium, suggesting convergent evolution. Proteins involved in chemotropic processes showed extended localization at contact sites, suggesting that cwr regulates the transition between chemotropic growth and cell wall dissolution. Our work revealed an allorecognition surveillance system based on kind discrimination that inhibits cooperative behavior in fungi by blocking cell fusion upon contact, contributing to fungal immunity by preventing formation of chimeras between genetically non-identical colonies.

RevDate: 2020-09-01
CmpDate: 2019-12-30

Hartenstein V, P Martinez (2019)

Structure, development and evolution of the digestive system.

Cell and tissue research, 377(3):289-292.

Living cells depend on a constant supply of energy-rich organic molecules from the environment. Small molecules pass into the interior of the cell via simple diffusion or active transport carried out by membrane bound transporters; macromolecules, or entire cells, are taken up by endocytosis/phagocytosis, and are degraded intracellularly in specialized membrane bound compartments (lysosomes). Whereas all cells are capable of transporting molecules through the membrane, the efficient procurement, digestion and uptake of nutrients have become the function of specialized cell types and organs, forming the digestive system in multicellular animals. In mammals, for example, the digestive system is comprised of glandular organs with classes of cells specialized in the secretion of enzymes for the extracellular digestion of food particles (e.g., exocrine cells of the salivary gland, pancreas), as well as other organs with absorptive function (e.g., small intestine). Numerous other cell types, such as smooth muscle cells, neurons and enteroendocrine cells, are associated with glandular cells and intestinal cells to promote the digestive process.

RevDate: 2020-06-03
CmpDate: 2020-06-03

Fisher RM, B Regenberg (2019)

Multicellular group formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Proceedings. Biological sciences, 286(1910):20191098.

Understanding how and why cells cooperate to form multicellular organisms is a central aim of evolutionary biology. Multicellular groups can form through clonal development (where daughter cells stick to mother cells after division) or by aggregation (where cells aggregate to form groups). These different ways of forming groups directly affect relatedness between individual cells, which in turn can influence the degree of cooperation and conflict within the multicellular group. It is hard to study the evolution of multicellularity by focusing only on obligately multicellular organisms, like complex animals and plants, because the factors that favour multicellular cooperation cannot be disentangled, as cells cannot survive and reproduce independently. We support the use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an ideal model for studying the very first stages of the evolution of multicellularity. This is because it can form multicellular groups both clonally and through aggregation and uses a family of proteins called 'flocculins' that determine the way in which groups form, making it particularly amenable to laboratory experiments. We briefly review current knowledge about multicellularity in S. cerevisiae and then propose a framework for making predictions about the evolution of multicellular phenotypes in yeast based on social evolution theory. We finish by explaining how S. cerevisiae is a particularly useful experimental model for the analysis of open questions concerning multicellularity.

RevDate: 2020-07-24
CmpDate: 2020-07-24

de Araújo Silva-Cardoso IM, Meira FS, Gomes ACMM, et al (2020)

Histology, histochemistry and ultrastructure of pre-embryogenic cells determined for direct somatic embryogenesis in the palm tree Syagrus oleracea.

Physiologia plantarum, 168(4):845-875.

Somatic embryogenesis in palm trees is, in general, a slow and highly complex process, with a predominance of the indirect route and, consequently, a lack of knowledge about the direct route. We present new knowledge related to the morphological, histochemical and ultrastructural aspects of the transition from somatic to embryogenic cells and direct formation of somatic embryos from mature zygotic embryos of Syagrus oleracea, a palm tree. The results support the general concept that 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid plays a critical role for the formation of somatic embryos of direct and multicellular origin. Seven days in medium with auxin were enough for the identification of embryogenic cells. These cells had a set of characteristics corresponding to totipotent stem cells. At 14 days on induction medium, nodular formations were observed in the distal region of inoculated embryos, which evolved into globular somatic embryos. At 120 days on induction medium, the quality of the somatic embryos was compromised. The dynamics of the mobilization of reserve compounds was also demonstrated, with emphasis on starch and protein as energy sources required for the embryogenic process. This study shows for the first time the anatomical and ultrastructural events involved in direct somatic embryogenesis in a palm tree and incites the scientific community to return to the discussion of classical concepts related to direct somatic embryogenesis, especially regarding the characteristics and location of determined pre-embryogenic cells.

RevDate: 2024-07-20
CmpDate: 2020-07-21

Rausch P, Rühlemann M, Hermes BM, et al (2019)

Comparative analysis of amplicon and metagenomic sequencing methods reveals key features in the evolution of animal metaorganisms.

Microbiome, 7(1):133.

BACKGROUND: The interplay between hosts and their associated microbiome is now recognized as a fundamental basis of the ecology, evolution, and development of both players. These interdependencies inspired a new view of multicellular organisms as "metaorganisms." The goal of the Collaborative Research Center "Origin and Function of Metaorganisms" is to understand why and how microbial communities form long-term associations with hosts from diverse taxonomic groups, ranging from sponges to humans in addition to plants.

METHODS: In order to optimize the choice of analysis procedures, which may differ according to the host organism and question at hand, we systematically compared the two main technical approaches for profiling microbial communities, 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic shotgun sequencing across our panel of ten host taxa. This includes two commonly used 16S rRNA gene regions and two amplification procedures, thus totaling five different microbial profiles per host sample.

CONCLUSION: While 16S rRNA gene-based analyses are subject to much skepticism, we demonstrate that many aspects of bacterial community characterization are consistent across methods. The resulting insight facilitates the selection of appropriate methods across a wide range of host taxa. Overall, we recommend single- over multi-step amplification procedures, and although exceptions and trade-offs exist, the V3 V4 over the V1 V2 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Finally, by contrasting taxonomic and functional profiles and performing phylogenetic analysis, we provide important and novel insight into broad evolutionary patterns among metaorganisms, whereby the transition of animals from an aquatic to a terrestrial habitat marks a major event in the evolution of host-associated microbial composition.

RevDate: 2022-05-31
CmpDate: 2021-12-03

Erwin DH (2021)

Tempos and modes of collectivity in the history of life.

Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften, 140(4):343-351.

Collective integration and processing of information have increased through the history of life, through both the formation of aggregates in which the entities may have very different properties and which jointly coarse-grained environmental variables (ranging from widely varying metabolism in microbial consortia to the ecological diversity of species on reefs) and through collectives of similar entities (such as cells within an organism or social groups). Such increases have been implicated in significant transitions in the history of life, including aspects of the origin of life, the generation of pangenomes among microbes and microbial communities such as stromatolites, multicellularity and social insects. This contribution provides a preliminary overview of the dominant modes of collective information processing in the history of life, their phylogenetic distribution and extent of convergence, and the effects of new modes for integrating and acting upon information on the tempo of evolutionary change.

RevDate: 2020-06-26
CmpDate: 2020-06-26

Pukhlyakova EA, Kirillova AO, Kraus YA, et al (2019)

A cadherin switch marks germ layer formation in the diploblastic sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.

Development (Cambridge, England), 146(20): pii:dev.174623.

Morphogenesis is a shape-building process during development of multicellular organisms. During this process, the establishment and modulation of cell-cell contacts play an important role. Cadherins, the major cell adhesion molecules, form adherens junctions connecting epithelial cells. Numerous studies of Bilateria have shown that cadherins are associated with the regulation of cell differentiation, cell shape changes, cell migration and tissue morphogenesis. To date, the role of cadherins in non-bilaterians is unknown. Here, we study the expression and function of two paralogous classical cadherins, Cadherin 1 and Cadherin 3, in a diploblastic animal, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis We show that a cadherin switch accompanies the formation of germ layers. Using specific antibodies, we show that both cadherins are localized to adherens junctions at apical and basal positions in ectoderm and endoderm. During gastrulation, partial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of endodermal cells is marked by stepwise downregulation of Cadherin 3 and upregulation of Cadherin 1. Knockdown experiments show that both cadherins are required for maintenance of tissue integrity and tissue morphogenesis. Thus, both sea anemones and bilaterians use independently duplicated cadherins combinatorially for tissue morphogenesis and germ layer differentiation.

RevDate: 2020-11-15
CmpDate: 2020-06-16

Barger SR, James ML, Pellenz CD, et al (2019)

Human myosin 1e tail but not motor domain replaces fission yeast Myo1 domains to support myosin-I function during endocytosis.

Experimental cell research, 384(2):111625.

In both unicellular and multicellular organisms, long-tailed class I myosins function in clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Myosin 1e (Myo1e) in vertebrates and Myo1 in fission yeast have similar domain organization, yet whether these proteins or their individual protein domains are functionally interchangeable remains unknown. In an effort to assess functional conservation of class I myosins, we tested whether human Myo1e could replace Myo1 in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and found that it was unable to substitute for yeast Myo1. To determine if any individual protein domain is responsible for the inability of Myo1e to function in yeast, we created human-yeast myosin-I chimeras. By functionally testing these chimeric myosins in vivo, we concluded that the Myo1e motor domain is unable to function in yeast, even when combined with the yeast Myo1 tail and a full complement of yeast regulatory light chains. Conversely, the Myo1e tail, when attached to the yeast Myo1 motor domain, supports localization to endocytic actin patches and partially rescues the endocytosis defect in myo1Δ cells. Further dissection showed that both the TH1 and TH2-SH3 domains in the human Myo1e tail are required for localization and function of chimeric myosin-I at endocytic sites. Overall, this study provides insights into the role of individual myosin-I domains, expands the utility of fission yeast as a simple model system to study the effects of disease-associated MYO1E mutations, and supports a model of co-evolution between a myosin motor and its actin track.

RevDate: 2020-10-14
CmpDate: 2020-10-14

Wanninger A, T Wollesen (2020)

Methods in Brain Development of Molluscs.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2047:311-324.

Representatives of the phylum Mollusca have long been important models in neurobiological research. Recently, the routine application of immunocytochemistry and gene expression analyses in combination with confocal laserscanning microscopy has allowed fast generation of highly detailed reconstructions of neural structures of even the smallest multicellular animals, including early developmental stages. As a consequence, large-scale comparative analyses of neurogenesis-an important prerequisite for inferences concerning the evolution of animal nervous systems-are now possible in a reasonable amount of time. Herein, we describe immunocytochemical staining and in situ hybridization protocols for both, whole-mount preparations of developmental stages-usually 70-300 μm in size-as well as for vibratome and cryostat sections of complex brains. Although our procedures have been optimized for marine molluscs, they may easily be adapted to other (marine) organisms by the creative neurobiologist.

RevDate: 2020-02-21
CmpDate: 2020-02-21

Zárybnický T, Matoušková P, Ambrož M, et al (2019)

The Selection and Validation of Reference Genes for mRNA and microRNA Expression Studies in Human Liver Slices Using RT-qPCR.

Genes, 10(10):.

The selection of a suitable combination of reference genes (RGs) for data normalization is a crucial step for obtaining reliable and reproducible results from transcriptional response analysis using a reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. This is especially so if a three-dimensional multicellular model prepared from liver tissues originating from biologically diverse human individuals is used. The mRNA and miRNA RGs stability were studied in thirty-five human liver tissue samples and twelve precision-cut human liver slices (PCLS) treated for 24 h with dimethyl sulfoxide (controls) and PCLS treated with β-naphthoflavone (10 µM) or rifampicin (10 µM) as cytochrome P450 (CYP) inducers. Validation of RGs was performed by an expression analysis of CYP3A4 and CYP1A2 on rifampicin and β-naphthoflavone induction, respectively. Regarding mRNA, the best combination of RGs for the controls was YWHAZ and B2M, while YWHAZ and ACTB were selected for the liver samples and treated PCLS. Stability of all candidate miRNA RGs was comparable or better than that of generally used short non-coding RNA U6. The best combination for the control PCLS was miR-16-5p and miR-152-3p, in contrast to the miR-16-5b and miR-23b-3p selected for the treated PCLS. Our results showed that the candidate RGs were rather stable, especially for miRNA in human PCLS.

RevDate: 2020-12-13
CmpDate: 2020-03-16

Garud A, Carrillo AJ, Collier LA, et al (2019)

Genetic relationships between the RACK1 homolog cpc-2 and heterotrimeric G protein subunit genes in Neurospora crassa.

PloS one, 14(10):e0223334.

Receptor for Activated C Kinase-1 (RACK1) is a multifunctional eukaryotic scaffolding protein with a seven WD repeat structure. Among their many cellular roles, RACK1 homologs have been shown to serve as alternative Gβ subunits during heterotrimeric G protein signaling in many systems. We investigated genetic interactions between the RACK1 homolog cpc-2, the previously characterized Gβ subunit gnb-1 and other G protein signaling components in the multicellular filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Results from cell fractionation studies and from fluorescent microscopy of a strain expressing a CPC-2-GFP fusion protein revealed that CPC-2 is a cytoplasmic protein. Genetic epistasis experiments between cpc-2, the three Gα genes (gna-1, gna-2 and gna-3) and gnb-1 demonstrated that cpc-2 is epistatic to gna-2 with regards to basal hyphae growth rate and aerial hyphae height, while deletion of cpc-2 mitigates the increased macroconidiation on solid medium observed in Δgnb-1 mutants. Δcpc-2 mutants inappropriately produce conidiophores during growth in submerged culture and mutational activation of gna-3 alleviates this defect. Δcpc-2 mutants are female-sterile and fertility could not be restored by mutational activation of any of the three Gα genes. With the exception of macroconidiation on solid medium, double mutants lacking cpc-2 and gnb-1 exhibited more severe defects for all phenotypic traits, supporting a largely synergistic relationship between GNB-1 and CPC-2 in N. crassa.

RevDate: 2023-10-14
CmpDate: 2020-02-14

Chang J, Xu Z, Li M, et al (2019)

Spatiotemporal cytoskeleton organizations determine morphogenesis of multicellular trichomes in tomato.

PLoS genetics, 15(10):e1008438.

Plant trichomes originate from epidermal cell, forming protective structure from abiotic and biotic stresses. Different from the unicellular trichome in Arabidopsis, tomato trichomes are multicellular structure and can be classified into seven different types based on cell number, shape and the presence of glandular cells. Despite the importance of tomato trichomes in insect resistance, our understanding of the tomato trichome morphogenesis remains elusive. In this study, we quantitatively analyzed morphological traits of trichomes in tomato and further performed live imaging of cytoskeletons in stably transformed lines with actin and microtubule markers. At different developmental stages, two types of cytoskeletons exhibited distinct patterns in different trichome cells, ranging from transverse, spiral to longitudinal. This gradual transition of actin filament angle from basal to top cells could correlate with the spatial expansion mode in different cells. Further genetic screen for aberrant trichome morphology led to the discovery of a number of independent mutations in SCAR/WAVE and ARP2/3 complex, which resulted in actin bundling and distorted trichomes. Disruption of microtubules caused isotropic expansion while abolished actin filaments entirely inhibited axial extension of trichomes, indicating that microtubules and actin filaments may control distinct aspects of trichome cell expansion. Our results shed light on the roles of cytoskeletons in the formation of multicellular structure of tomato trichomes.

RevDate: 2025-05-30
CmpDate: 2020-10-13

Arcas A, Wilkinson DG, MÁ Nieto (2020)

The Evolutionary History of Ephs and Ephrins: Toward Multicellular Organisms.

Molecular biology and evolution, 37(2):379-394.

Eph receptor (Eph) and ephrin signaling regulate fundamental developmental processes through both forward and reverse signaling triggered upon cell-cell contact. In vertebrates, they are both classified into classes A and B, and some representatives have been identified in many metazoan groups, where their expression and functions have been well studied. We have extended previous phylogenetic analyses and examined the presence of Eph and ephrins in the tree of life to determine their origin and evolution. We have found that 1) premetazoan choanoflagellates may already have rudimental Eph/ephrin signaling as they have an Eph-/ephrin-like pair and homologs of downstream-signaling genes; 2) both forward- and reverse-downstream signaling might already occur in Porifera since sponges have most genes involved in these types of signaling; 3) the nonvertebrate metazoan Eph is a type-B receptor that can bind ephrins regardless of their membrane-anchoring structure, glycosylphosphatidylinositol, or transmembrane; 4) Eph/ephrin cross-class binding is specific to Gnathostomata; and 5) kinase-dead Eph receptors can be traced back to Gnathostomata. We conclude that Eph/ephrin signaling is of older origin than previously believed. We also examined the presence of protein domains associated with functional characteristics and the appearance and conservation of downstream-signaling pathways to understand the original and derived functions of Ephs and ephrins. We find that the evolutionary history of these gene families points to an ancestral function in cell-cell interactions that could contribute to the emergence of multicellularity and, in particular, to the required segregation of cell populations.

RevDate: 2023-06-03
CmpDate: 2020-04-06

Blutt SE, Klein OD, Donowitz M, et al (2019)

Use of organoids to study regenerative responses to intestinal damage.

American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 317(6):G845-G852.

Intestinal organoid cultures provide an in vitro model system for studying pathways and mechanisms involved in epithelial damage and repair. Derived from either embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells or adult intestinal stem cells or tissues, these self-organizing, multicellular structures contain polarized mature cells that recapitulate both the physiology and heterogeneity of the intestinal epithelium. These cultures provide a cutting-edge technology for defining regenerative pathways that are induced following radiation or chemical damage, which directly target the cycling intestinal stem cell, or damage resulting from viral, bacterial, or parasitic infection of the epithelium. Novel signaling pathways or biological mechanisms identified from organoid studies that mediate regeneration of the epithelium following damage are likely to be important targets of preventive or therapeutic modalities to mitigate intestinal injury. The evolution of these cultures to include more components of the intestinal wall and the ability to genetically modify them are key components for defining the mechanisms that modulate epithelial regeneration.

RevDate: 2021-09-15
CmpDate: 2020-11-17

Diggle SP, M Whiteley (2020)

Microbe Profile: Pseudomonas aeruginosa: opportunistic pathogen and lab rat.

Microbiology (Reading, England), 166(1):30-33.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen and a model bacterium for studying virulence and bacterial social traits. While it can be isolated in low numbers from a wide variety of environments including soil and water, it can readily be found in almost any human/animal-impacted environment. It is a major cause of illness and death in humans with immunosuppressive and chronic conditions, and infections in these patients are difficult to treat due to a number of antibiotic resistance mechanisms and the organism's propensity to form multicellular biofilms.

RevDate: 2024-07-20
CmpDate: 2020-03-05

Ramon-Mateu J, Ellison ST, Angelini TE, et al (2019)

Regeneration in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi occurs in the absence of a blastema, requires cell division, and is temporally separable from wound healing.

BMC biology, 17(1):80.

BACKGROUND: The ability to regenerate is a widely distributed but highly variable trait among metazoans. A variety of modes of regeneration has been described for different organisms; however, many questions regarding the origin and evolution of these strategies remain unanswered. Most species of ctenophore (or "comb jellies"), a clade of marine animals that branch off at the base of the animal tree of life, possess an outstanding capacity to regenerate. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this ability are unknown. We have used the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi as a system to study wound healing and adult regeneration and provide some first-time insights of the cellular mechanisms involved in the regeneration of one of the most ancient extant group of multicellular animals.

RESULTS: We show that cell proliferation is activated at the wound site and is indispensable for whole-body regeneration. Wound healing occurs normally in the absence of cell proliferation forming a scar-less wound epithelium. No blastema-like structure is generated at the cut site, and pulse-chase experiments and surgical intervention show that cells originating in the main regions of cell proliferation (the tentacle bulbs) do not seem to contribute to the formation of new structures after surgical challenge, suggesting a local source of cells during regeneration. While exposure to cell-proliferation blocking treatment inhibits regeneration, the ability to regenerate is recovered when the treatment ends (days after the original cut), suggesting that ctenophore regenerative capabilities are constantly ready to be triggered and they are somehow separable of the wound healing process.

CONCLUSIONS: Ctenophore regeneration takes place through a process of cell proliferation-dependent non-blastemal-like regeneration and is temporally separable of the wound healing process. We propose that undifferentiated cells assume the correct location of missing structures and differentiate in place. The remarkable ability to replace missing tissue, the many favorable experimental features (e.g., optical clarity, high fecundity, rapid regenerative performance, stereotyped cell lineage, sequenced genome), and the early branching phylogenetic position in the animal tree, all point to the emergence of ctenophores as a new model system to study the evolution of animal regeneration.

RevDate: 2020-11-25
CmpDate: 2020-11-25

Jasper H (2020)

Intestinal Stem Cell Aging: Origins and Interventions.

Annual review of physiology, 82:203-226.

Regenerative processes that maintain the function of the gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium are critical for health and survival of multicellular organisms. In insects and vertebrates, intestinal stem cells (ISCs) regenerate the GI epithelium. ISC function is regulated by intrinsic, local, and systemic stimuli to adjust regeneration to tissue demands. These control mechanisms decline with age, resulting in significant perturbation of intestinal homeostasis. Processes that lead to this decline have been explored intensively in Drosophila melanogaster in recent years and are now starting to be characterized in mammalian models. This review presents a model for age-related regenerative decline in the fly intestine and discusses recent findings that start to establish molecular mechanisms of age-related decline of mammalian ISC function.

RevDate: 2020-03-30
CmpDate: 2020-03-30

Nanjundiah V (2019)

Many roads lead to Rome: Neutral phenotypes in microorganisms.

Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution, 332(8):339-348.

John Bonner pointed out that microorganisms differ in several ways, some of which may reflect neutral phenotypic evolution. For making his case, Bonner referred to interspecies differences and morphological traits. Here we consider intraspecies differences and physiological traits. As a case-study, we examine the production of an extracellular cyclic 3 ' ,5 ' monophosphate phosphodiesterase in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. Temporal profiles of phosphodiesterase activity differ significantly between wild-type strains. From that we argue that the inference drawn initially from studies on a single wild-type, namely that the profile displayed by it pointed to an adaptive role, was mistaken. We generalize the conclusion to suggest that physiological differences exhibited by microorganisms of the same species may, but need not, reflect adaptations to different environments. Rather, the differences could be related to the fact that microorganisms live in groups whose composition can vary between homogeneous (clonal) and heterogeneous (polyclonal). More than one physiological profile is consistent with the normal development of the group in a given environment; the alternatives are neutral. When studying microbial physiology and behavior, it is expected that the observations are made on a clonal population; genetic (and so phenotypic) heterogeneity is carefully guarded against. As the example from D. discoideum shows, an unintended consequence of overlooking phenotypic heterogeneity is that one can fall into the trap of accepting a seemingly plausible, but possibly erroneous, adaptive explanation for a "normal" wild-type phenotype.

RevDate: 2020-04-08
CmpDate: 2020-04-06

Brunet T, Larson BT, Linden TA, et al (2019)

Light-regulated collective contractility in a multicellular choanoflagellate.

Science (New York, N.Y.), 366(6463):326-334.

Collective cell contractions that generate global tissue deformations are a signature feature of animal movement and morphogenesis. However, the origin of collective contractility in animals remains unclear. While surveying the Caribbean island of Curaçao for choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals, we isolated a previously undescribed species (here named Choanoeca flexa sp. nov.) that forms multicellular cup-shaped colonies. The colonies rapidly invert their curvature in response to changing light levels, which they detect through a rhodopsin-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway. Inversion requires actomyosin-mediated apical contractility and allows alternation between feeding and swimming behavior. C. flexa thus rapidly converts sensory inputs directly into multicellular contractions. These findings may inform reconstructions of hypothesized animal ancestors that existed before the evolution of specialized sensory and contractile cells.

RevDate: 2024-04-21
CmpDate: 2020-03-30

Murphy DP, Hughes AE, Lawrence KA, et al (2019)

Cis-regulatory basis of sister cell type divergence in the vertebrate retina.

eLife, 8:.

Multicellular organisms evolved via repeated functional divergence of transcriptionally related sister cell types, but the mechanisms underlying sister cell type divergence are not well understood. Here, we study a canonical pair of sister cell types, retinal photoreceptors and bipolar cells, to identify the key cis-regulatory features that distinguish them. By comparing open chromatin maps and transcriptomic profiles, we found that while photoreceptor and bipolar cells have divergent transcriptomes, they share remarkably similar cis-regulatory grammars, marked by enrichment of K50 homeodomain binding sites. However, cell class-specific enhancers are distinguished by enrichment of E-box motifs in bipolar cells, and Q50 homeodomain motifs in photoreceptors. We show that converting K50 motifs to Q50 motifs represses reporter expression in bipolar cells, while photoreceptor expression is maintained. These findings suggest that partitioning of Q50 motifs within cell type-specific cis-regulatory elements was a critical step in the evolutionary divergence of the bipolar transcriptome from that of photoreceptors.

RevDate: 2020-06-23
CmpDate: 2020-04-08

Dudin O, Ondracka A, Grau-Bové X, et al (2019)

A unicellular relative of animals generates a layer of polarized cells by actomyosin-dependent cellularization.

eLife, 8:.

In animals, cellularization of a coenocyte is a specialized form of cytokinesis that results in the formation of a polarized epithelium during early embryonic development. It is characterized by coordinated assembly of an actomyosin network, which drives inward membrane invaginations. However, whether coordinated cellularization driven by membrane invagination exists outside animals is not known. To that end, we investigate cellularization in the ichthyosporean Sphaeroforma arctica, a close unicellular relative of animals. We show that the process of cellularization involves coordinated inward plasma membrane invaginations dependent on an actomyosin network and reveal the temporal order of its assembly. This leads to the formation of a polarized layer of cells resembling an epithelium. We show that this stage is associated with tightly regulated transcriptional activation of genes involved in cell adhesion. Hereby we demonstrate the presence of a self-organized, clonally-generated, polarized layer of cells in a unicellular relative of animals.

RevDate: 2020-10-30
CmpDate: 2020-10-30

Smith NC, Rise ML, SL Christian (2019)

A Comparison of the Innate and Adaptive Immune Systems in Cartilaginous Fish, Ray-Finned Fish, and Lobe-Finned Fish.

Frontiers in immunology, 10:2292.

The immune system is composed of two subsystems-the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. The innate immune system is the first to respond to pathogens and does not retain memory of previous responses. Innate immune responses are evolutionarily older than adaptive responses and elements of innate immunity can be found in all multicellular organisms. If a pathogen persists, the adaptive immune system will engage the pathogen with specificity and memory. Several components of the adaptive system including immunoglobulins (Igs), T cell receptors (TCR), and major histocompatibility complex (MHC), are assumed to have arisen in the first jawed vertebrates-the Gnathostomata. This review will discuss and compare components of both the innate and adaptive immune systems in Gnathostomes, particularly in Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) and in Osteichthyes [bony fish: the Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) and the Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish)]. While many elements of both the innate and adaptive immune systems are conserved within these species and with higher level vertebrates, some elements have marked differences. Components of the innate immune system covered here include physical barriers, such as the skin and gastrointestinal tract, cellular components, such as pattern recognition receptors and immune cells including macrophages and neutrophils, and humoral components, such as the complement system. Components of the adaptive system covered include the fundamental cells and molecules of adaptive immunity: B lymphocytes (B cells), T lymphocytes (T cells), immunoglobulins (Igs), and major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Comparative studies in fish such as those discussed here are essential for developing a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the immune system.

RevDate: 2021-01-10
CmpDate: 2020-10-28

Brown JL, Johnston W, Delaney C, et al (2019)

Biofilm-stimulated epithelium modulates the inflammatory responses in co-cultured immune cells.

Scientific reports, 9(1):15779.

The gingival epithelium is a physical and immunological barrier to the microbiota of the oral cavity, which interact through soluble mediators with the immune cells that patrol the tissue at the gingival epithelium. We sought to develop a three-dimensional gingivae-biofilm interface model using a commercially available gingival epithelium to study the tissue inflammatory response to oral biofilms associated with "health", "gingivitis" and "periodontitis". These biofilms were developed by sequential addition of microorganisms to mimic the formation of supra- and sub-gingival plaque in vivo. Secondly, to mimic the interactions between gingival epithelium and immune cells in vivo, we integrated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD14[+] monocytes into our three-dimensional model and were able to assess the inflammatory response in the immune cells cultured with and without gingival epithelium. We describe a differential inflammatory response in immune cells cultured with epithelial tissue, and more so following incubation with epithelium stimulated by "gingivitis-associated" biofilm. These results suggest that gingival epithelium-derived soluble mediators may control the inflammatory status of immune cells in vitro, and therefore targeting of the epithelial response may offer novel therapies. This multi-cellular interface model, both of microbial and host origin, offers a robust in vitro platform to investigate host-pathogens at the epithelial surface.

RevDate: 2021-01-04
CmpDate: 2021-01-04

Grall E, P Tschopp (2020)

A sense of place, many times over - pattern formation and evolution of repetitive morphological structures.

Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists, 249(3):313-327.

Fifty years ago, Lewis Wolpert introduced the concept of "positional information" to explain how patterns form in a multicellular embryonic field. Using morphogen gradients, whose continuous distributions of positional values are discretized via thresholds into distinct cellular states, he provided, at the theoretical level, an elegant solution to the "French Flag problem." In the intervening years, many experimental studies have lent support to Wolpert's ideas. However, the embryonic patterning of highly repetitive morphological structures, as often occurring in nature, can reveal limitations in the strict implementation of his initial theory, given the number of distinct threshold values that would have to be specified. Here, we review how positional information is complemented to circumvent these inadequacies, to accommodate tissue growth and pattern periodicity. In particular, we focus on functional anatomical assemblies composed of such structures, like the vertebrate spine or tetrapod digits, where the resulting segmented architecture is intrinsically linked to periodic pattern formation and unidirectional growth. These systems integrate positional information and growth with additional patterning cues that, we suggest, increase robustness and evolvability. We discuss different experimental and theoretical models to study such patterning systems, and how the underlying processes are modulated over evolutionary timescales to enable morphological diversification.

RevDate: 2020-11-08
CmpDate: 2020-07-22

Stubbendieck RM, Li H, CR Currie (2019)

Convergent evolution of signal-structure interfaces for maintaining symbioses.

Current opinion in microbiology, 50:71-78.

Symbiotic microbes are essential to the ecological success and evolutionary diversification of multicellular organisms. The establishment and stability of bipartite symbioses are shaped by mechanisms ensuring partner fidelity between host and symbiont. In this minireview, we demonstrate how the interface of chemical signals and host structures influences fidelity between legume root nodules and rhizobia, Hawaiian bobtail squid light organs and Allivibrio fischeri, and fungus-growing ant crypts and Pseudonocardia. Subsequently, we illustrate the morphological diversity and widespread phylogenetic distribution of specialized structures used by hosts to house microbial symbionts, indicating the importance of signal-structure interfaces across the history of multicellular life. These observations, and the insights garnered from well-studied bipartite associations, demonstrate the need to concentrate on the signal-structure interface in complex and multipartite systems, including the human microbiome.

RevDate: 2020-12-14
CmpDate: 2020-12-04

Martínez-Soto D, Velez-Haro JM, León-Ramírez CG, et al (2020)

Multicellular growth of the Basidiomycota phytopathogen fungus Sporisorium reilianum induced by acid conditions.

Folia microbiologica, 65(3):511-521.

Fungi are considered model organisms for the analysis of important phenomena of eukaryotes. For example, some of them have been described as models to understand the phenomenon of multicellularity acquisition by different unicellular organisms phylogenetically distant. Interestingly, in this work, we describe the multicellular development in the model fungus S. reilianum. We observed that Sporisorium reilianum, a Basidiomycota cereal pathogen that at neutral pH grows with a yeast-like morphology during its saprophytic haploid stage, when incubated at acid pH grew in the form of multicellular clusters. The multicellularity observed in S. reilianum was of clonal type, where buds of "stem" cells growing as yeasts remain joined by their cell wall septa, after cytokinesis. The elaboration and analysis of a regulatory network of S. reilianum showed that the putative zinc finger transcription factor CBQ73544.1 regulates a number of genes involved in cell cycle, cellular division, signal transduction pathways, and biogenesis of cell wall. Interestingly, homologous of these genes have been found to be regulated during Saccharomyces cerevisiae multicellular growth. In adddition, some of these genes were found to be negatively regulated during multicellularity of S. reilianum. With these data, we suggest that S. reilianum is an interesting model for the study of multicellular development.

RevDate: 2020-11-12
CmpDate: 2020-11-12

López EH, SR Palumbi (2020)

Somatic Mutations and Genome Stability Maintenance in Clonal Coral Colonies.

Molecular biology and evolution, 37(3):828-838.

One challenge for multicellular organisms is maintaining genome stability in the face of mutagens across long life spans. Imperfect genome maintenance leads to mutation accumulation in somatic cells, which is associated with tumors and senescence in vertebrates. Colonial reef-building corals are often large, can live for hundreds of years, rarely develop recognizable tumors, and are thought to convert somatic cells into gamete producers, so they are a pivotal group in which to understand long-term genome maintenance. To measure rates and patterns of somatic mutations, we analyzed transcriptomes from 17 to 22 branches from each of four Acropora hyacinthus colonies, determined putative single nucleotide variants, and verified them with Sanger resequencing. Unlike for human skin carcinomas, there is no signature of mutations caused by UV damage, indicating either higher efficiency of repair than in vertebrates, or strong sunscreen protection in these shallow water tropical animals. The somatic mutation frequency per nucleotide in A. hyacinthus is on the same order of magnitude (10-7) as noncancerous human somatic cells, and accumulation of mutations with age is similar. Loss of heterozygosity variants outnumber gain of heterozygosity mutations ∼2:1. Although the mutation frequency is similar in mammals and corals, the preponderance of loss of heterozygosity changes and potential selection may reduce the frequency of deleterious mutations in colonial animals like corals. This may limit the deleterious effects of somatic mutations on the coral organism as well as potential offspring.

RevDate: 2020-04-29
CmpDate: 2020-04-29

Thattai M (2019)

How contraction has shaped evolution.

eLife, 8:.

Two unicellular relatives of animals reveal that coordinated contractions of groups of cells using actomyosin predated animal multicellularity during evolution.

RevDate: 2021-11-01
CmpDate: 2021-11-01

Brenneis G, BS Beltz (2020)

Adult neurogenesis in crayfish: Origin, expansion, and migration of neural progenitor lineages in a pseudostratified neuroepithelium.

The Journal of comparative neurology, 528(9):1459-1485.

Two decades after the discovery of adult-born neurons in the brains of decapod crustaceans, the deutocerebral proliferative system (DPS) producing these neural lineages has become a model of adult neurogenesis in invertebrates. Studies on crayfish have provided substantial insights into the anatomy, cellular dynamics, and regulation of the DPS. Contrary to traditional thinking, recent evidence suggests that the neurogenic niche in the crayfish DPS lacks self-renewing stem cells, its cell pool being instead sustained via integration of hemocytes generated by the innate immune system. Here, we investigated the origin, division and migration patterns of the adult-born neural progenitor (NP) lineages in detail. We show that the niche cell pool is not only replenished by hemocyte integration but also by limited numbers of symmetric cell divisions with some characteristics reminiscent of interkinetic nuclear migration. Once specified in the niche, first generation NPs act as transit-amplifying intermediate NPs that eventually exit and produce multicellular clones as they move along migratory streams toward target brain areas. Different clones may migrate simultaneously in the streams but occupy separate tracks and show spatio-temporally flexible division patterns. Based on this, we propose an extended DPS model that emphasizes structural similarities to pseudostratified neuroepithelia in other arthropods and vertebrates. This model includes hemocyte integration and intrinsic cell proliferation to synergistically counteract niche cell pool depletion during the animal's lifespan. Further, we discuss parallels to recent findings on mammalian adult neurogenesis, as both systems seem to exhibit a similar decoupling of proliferative replenishment divisions and consuming neurogenic divisions.

RevDate: 2023-01-24
CmpDate: 2021-06-23

Williams LM, Inge MM, Mansfield KM, et al (2020)

Transcription factor NF-κB in a basal metazoan, the sponge, has conserved and unique sequences, activities, and regulation.

Developmental and comparative immunology, 104:103559.

Herein, we characterize transcription factor NF-κB from the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica (Aq). Aq-NF-κB is most similar to NF-κB p100/p105 among vertebrate proteins, with an N-terminal DNA-binding domain, a C-terminal Ankyrin (ANK) repeat domain, and a DNA binding-site profile akin to human NF-κB proteins. Like mammalian NF-κB p100, C-terminal truncation allows nuclear translocation of Aq-NF-κB and increases its transcriptional activation activity. Expression of IκB kinases (IKKs) induces proteasome-dependent C-terminal processing of Aq-NF-κB in human cells, and processing requires C-terminal serines in Aq-NF-κB. Unlike NF-κB p100, C-terminal sequences of Aq-NF-κB do not inhibit its DNA-binding activity. Tissue of a black encrusting demosponge contains NF-κB site DNA-binding activity, as well as nuclear and processed NF-κB. Treatment of sponge tissue with LPS increases both DNA-binding activity and processing of NF-κB. A. queenslandica transcriptomes contain homologs to upstream NF-κB pathway components. This is first functional characterization of NF-κB in sponge, the most basal multicellular animal.

RevDate: 2026-03-14
CmpDate: 2020-03-31

Forbes G, Chen ZH, Kin K, et al (2019)

Phylogeny-wide conservation and change in developmental expression, cell-type specificity and functional domains of the transcriptional regulators of social amoebas.

BMC genomics, 20(1):890.

BACKGROUND: Dictyostelid social amoebas self-organize into fruiting bodies, consisting of spores and up to four supporting cell types in the phenotypically most complex taxon group 4. High quality genomes and stage- and cell-type specific transcriptomes are available for representative species of each of the four taxon groups. To understand how evolution of gene regulation in Dictyostelia contributed to evolution of phenotypic complexity, we analysed conservation and change in abundance, functional domain architecture and developmental regulation of their transcription factors (TFs).

RESULTS: We detected 440 sequence-specific TFs across 33 families, of which 68% were upregulated in multicellular development and about half conserved throughout Dictyostelia. Prespore cells expressed two times more TFs than prestalk cells, but stalk cells expressed more TFs than spores, suggesting that gene expression events that define spores occur earlier than those that define stalk cells. Changes in TF developmental expression, but not in TF abundance or functional domains occurred more frequently between group 4 and groups 1-3, than between the more distant branches formed by groups 1 + 2 and 3 + 4.

CONCLUSIONS: Phenotypic innovation is correlated with changes in TF regulation, rather than functional domain- or TF acquisition. The function of only 34 TFs is known. Of 12 TFs essential for cell differentiation, 9 are expressed in the cell type for which they are required. The information acquired here on conserved cell type specifity of 120 additional TFs can effectively guide further functional analysis, while observed evolutionary change in TF developmental expression may highlight how genotypic change caused phenotypic innovation.

RevDate: 2020-05-12
CmpDate: 2020-05-12

Kar R, Jha NK, Jha SK, et al (2019)

A "NOTCH" Deeper into the Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) Program in Breast Cancer.

Genes, 10(12):.

Notch signaling is a primitive signaling pathway having various roles in the normal origin and development of each multicellular organisms. Therefore, any aberration in the pathway will inevitably lead to deadly outcomes such as cancer. It has now been more than two decades since Notch was acknowledged as an oncogene in mouse mammary tumor virus-infected mice. Since that discovery, activated Notch signaling and consequent up-regulation of tumor-promoting Notch target genes have been observed in human breast cancer. Moreover, consistent over-expression of Notch ligands and receptors has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis in human breast cancer. Notch regulates a number of key processes during breast carcinogenesis, of which, one key phenomenon is epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is a key process for large-scale cell movement during morphogenesis at the time of embryonic development. Cancer cells aided by transcription factors usurp this developmental program to execute the multi-step process of tumorigenesis and metastasis. In this review, we recapitulate recent progress in breast cancer research that has provided new perceptions into the molecular mechanisms behind Notch-mediated EMT regulation during breast tumorigenesis.

RevDate: 2020-06-08
CmpDate: 2020-06-08

Jékely G (2019)

Evolution: How Not to Become an Animal.

Current biology : CB, 29(23):R1240-R1242.

The origin of animals has always fascinated biologists. Studies on choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals, have contributed major insights. The discovery of a multicellular choanoflagellate with light-regulated collective behaviour now provides a new perspective.

RevDate: 2021-02-03
CmpDate: 2021-02-03

Fields C, Bischof J, M Levin (2020)

Morphological Coordination: A Common Ancestral Function Unifying Neural and Non-Neural Signaling.

Physiology (Bethesda, Md.), 35(1):16-30.

Nervous systems are traditionally thought of as providing sensing and behavioral coordination functions at the level of the whole organism. What is the evolutionary origin of the mechanisms enabling the nervous systems' information processing ability? Here, we review evidence from evolutionary, developmental, and regenerative biology suggesting a deeper, ancestral function of both pre-neural and neural cell-cell communication systems: the long-distance coordination of cell division and differentiation required to create and maintain body-axis symmetries. This conceptualization of the function of nervous system activity sheds new light on the evolutionary transition from the morphologically rudimentary, non-neural Porifera and Placazoa to the complex morphologies of Ctenophores, Cnidarians, and Bilaterians. It further allows a sharp formulation of the distinction between long-distance axis-symmetry coordination based on external coordinates, e.g., by whole-organism scale trophisms as employed by plants and sessile animals, and coordination based on body-centered coordinates as employed by motile animals. Thus we suggest that the systems that control animal behavior evolved from ancient mechanisms adapting preexisting ionic and neurotransmitter mechanisms to regulate individual cell behaviors during morphogenesis. An appreciation of the ancient, non-neural origins of bioelectrically mediated computation suggests new approaches to the study of embryological development, including embryological dysregulation, cancer, regenerative medicine, and synthetic bioengineering.

RevDate: 2025-01-03
CmpDate: 2020-10-15

Walker DM, Hill AJ, Albecker MA, et al (2020)

Variation in the Slimy Salamander (Plethodon spp.) Skin and Gut-Microbial Assemblages Is Explained by Geographic Distance and Host Affinity.

Microbial ecology, 79(4):985-997.

A multicellular host and its microbial communities are recognized as a metaorganism-a composite unit of evolution. Microbial communities have a variety of positive and negative effects on the host life history, ecology, and evolution. This study used high-throughput amplicon sequencing to characterize the complete skin and gut microbial communities, including both bacteria and fungi, of a terrestrial salamander, Plethodon glutinosus (Family Plethodontidae). We assessed salamander populations, representing nine mitochondrial haplotypes ('clades'), for differences in microbial assemblages across 13 geographic locations in the Southeastern United States. We hypothesized that microbial assemblages were structured by both host factors and geographic distance. We found a strong correlation between all microbial assemblages at close geographic distances, whereas, as spatial distance increases, the patterns became increasingly discriminate. Network analyses revealed that gut-bacterial communities have the highest degree of connectedness across geographic space. Host salamander clade was explanatory of skin-bacterial and gut-fungal assemblages but not gut-bacterial assemblages, unless the latter were analyzed within a phylogenetic context. We also inferred the function of gut-fungal assemblages to understand how an understudied component of the gut microbiome may influence salamander life history. We concluded that dispersal limitation may in part describe patterns in microbial assemblages across space and also that the salamander host may select for skin and gut communities that are maintained over time in closely related salamander populations.

RevDate: 2023-10-20
CmpDate: 2020-03-20

Thomas F, Giraudeau M, Renaud F, et al (2019)

Can postfertile life stages evolve as an anticancer mechanism?.

PLoS biology, 17(12):e3000565.

Why a postfertile stage has evolved in females of some species has puzzled evolutionary biologists for over 50 years. We propose that existing adaptive explanations have underestimated in their formulation an important parameter operating both at the specific and the individual levels: the balance between cancer risks and cancer defenses. During their life, most multicellular organisms naturally accumulate oncogenic processes in their body. In parallel, reproduction, notably the pregnancy process in mammals, exacerbates the progression of existing tumors in females. When, for various ecological or evolutionary reasons, anticancer defenses are too weak, given cancer risk, older females could not pursue their reproduction without triggering fatal metastatic cancers, nor even maintain a normal reproductive physiology if the latter also promotes the growth of existing oncogenic processes, e.g., hormone-dependent malignancies. At least until stronger anticancer defenses are selected for in these species, females could achieve higher inclusive fitness by ceasing their reproduction and/or going through menopause (assuming that these traits are easier to select than anticancer defenses), thereby limiting the risk of premature death due to metastatic cancers. Because relatively few species experience such an evolutionary mismatch between anticancer defenses and cancer risks, the evolution of prolonged life after reproduction could also be a rare, potentially transient, anticancer adaptation in the animal kingdom.

RevDate: 2021-05-05
CmpDate: 2021-05-05

Nguyen H, Das U, J Xie (2020)

Genome-wide evolution of wobble base-pairing nucleotides of branchpoint motifs with increasing organismal complexity.

RNA biology, 17(3):311-324.

How have the branchpoint motifs evolved in organisms of different complexity? Here we identified and examined the consensus motifs (R1C2T3R4A5Y6, R: A or G, Y: C or T) of 898 fungal genomes. In Ascomycota unicellular yeasts, the G4/A4 ratio is mostly (98%) below 0.125 but increases sharply in multicellular species by about 40 times on average, and in the more complex Basidiomycota, it increases further by about 7 times. The global G4 increase is consistent with A4 to G4 transitions in evolution. Of the G4/A4-interacting amino acids of the branchpoint binding protein MSL5 (SF1) and the HSH155 (SF3B1), as well as the 5' splice sites (SS) and U2 snRNA genes, the 5' SS G[3]/A[3] co-vary with the G4 to some extent. However, corresponding increase of the G4-complementary GCAGTA-U2 gene is rare, suggesting wobble-base pairing between the G4-containing branchpoint motif and GTAGTA-U2 in most of these species. Interestingly, the G4/A4 ratio correlates well with the abundance of alternative splicing in the two phyla, and G4 enriched significantly at the alternative 3' SS of genes in RNA metabolism, kinases and membrane proteins. Similar wobble nucleotides also enriched at the 3' SS of multicellular fungi with only thousands of protein-coding genes. Thus, branchpoint motifs have evolved U2-complementarity in unicellular Ascomycota yeasts, but have gradually gained more wobble base-pairing nucleotides in fungi of higher complexity, likely to destabilize branchpoint motif-U2 interaction and/or branchpoint A protrusion for alternative splicing. This implies an important role of relaxing the branchpoint signals in the multicellularity and further complexity of fungi.

RevDate: 2020-03-17
CmpDate: 2020-03-17

Shuryak I (2020)

Review of resistance to chronic ionizing radiation exposure under environmental conditions in multicellular organisms.

Journal of environmental radioactivity, 212:106128.

Ionizing radiation resistance occurs among many phylogenetic groups and its mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Tolerances to acute and chronic irradiation do not always correlate because different mechanisms may be involved. The radioresistance phenomenon becomes even more complex in the field than in the laboratory because the effects of radioactive contamination on natural populations are intertwined with those of other factors, such as bioaccumulation of radionuclides, interspecific competition, seasonal variations in environmental conditions, and land use changes due to evacuation of humans from contaminated areas. Previous reviews of studies performed in radioactive sites like the Kyshtym, Chernobyl, and Fukushima accident regions, and of protracted irradiation experiments, often focused on detecting radiation effects at low doses in radiosensitive organisms. Here we review the literature with a different purpose: to identify organisms with high tolerance to chronic irradiation under environmental conditions, which maintained abundant populations and/or outcompeted more radiosensitive species at high dose rates. Taxa for which consistent evidence for radioresistance came from multiple studies conducted in different locations and at different times were found among plants (e.g. willow and birch trees, sedges), invertebrate and vertebrate animals (e.g. rotifers, some insects, crustaceans and freshwater fish). These organisms are not specialized "extremophiles", but tend to tolerate broad ranges of environmental conditions and stresses, have small genomes, reproduce quickly and/or disperse effectively over long distances. Based on these findings, resistance to radioactive contamination can be examined in a more broad context of chronic stress responses.

RevDate: 2026-01-27
CmpDate: 2021-09-20

Lee MF, LC Trotman (2020)

PTEN: Bridging Endocytosis and Signaling.

Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine, 10(10):.

The transduction of signals in the PTEN/PI3-kinase (PI3K) pathway is built around a phosphoinositide (PIP) lipid messenger, phosphatidylinositol trisphosphate, PI(3,4,5)P3 or PIP3 Another, more ancient role of this family of messengers is the control of endocytosis, where a handful of separate PIPs act like postal codes. Prominent among them is PI(3)P, which helps to ensure that endocytic vesicles, their cargo, and membranes themselves reach their correct destinations. Traditionally, the cancer and the endocytic functions of the PI3K signaling pathway have been studied by cancer and membrane biologists, respectively, with some notable but overall minimal overlap. Modern microscopy has enabled monitoring of the PTEN/PI3K pathway in action. Here, we explore the flurry of groundbreaking concepts emerging from those efforts. The discovery that PTEN contains an autonomous PI(3)P reader domain, fused to the catalytic PIP3 eraser domain has prompted us to explore the relationship between PI3K signaling and endocytosis. This revealed how PTEN can achieve signal termination in a precisely controlled fashion, because endocytosis can package the PIP3 signal into discrete units that PTEN will erase. We explore how PTEN can bridge the worlds of endocytosis and PI3K signaling and discuss progress on how PI3K/AKT signaling can be acting from internal membranes. We discuss how the PTEN/PI3K system for growth control may have emerged from principles of endocytosis, and how this development could have affected the evolution of multicellular organisms.

RevDate: 2021-05-14
CmpDate: 2021-05-14

Niklas KJ, SA Newman (2020)

The many roads to and from multicellularity.

Journal of experimental botany, 71(11):3247-3253.

The multiple origins of multicellularity had far-reaching consequences ranging from the appearance of phenotypically complex life-forms to their effects on Earth's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, many important questions remain. For example, do all lineages and clades share an ancestral developmental predisposition for multicellularity emerging from genomic and biophysical motifs shared from a last common ancestor, or are the multiple origins of multicellularity truly independent evolutionary events? In this review, we highlight recent developments and pitfalls in understanding the evolution of multicellularity with an emphasis on plants (here defined broadly to include the polyphyletic algae), but also draw upon insights from animals and their holozoan relatives, fungi and amoebozoans. Based on our review, we conclude that the evolution of multicellular organisms requires three phases (origination by disparate cell-cell attachment modalities, followed by integration by lineage-specific physiological mechanisms, and autonomization by natural selection) that have been achieved differently in different lineages.

RevDate: 2024-05-22
CmpDate: 2020-10-13

Arasu UT, Deen AJ, Pasonen-Seppänen S, et al (2020)

HAS3-induced extracellular vesicles from melanoma cells stimulate IHH mediated c-Myc upregulation via the hedgehog signaling pathway in target cells.

Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS, 77(20):4093-4115.

Intercellular communication is fundamental to the survival and maintenance of all multicellular systems, whereas dysregulation of communication pathways can drive cancer progression. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are mediators of cell-to-cell communication that regulate a variety of cellular processes involved in tumor progression. Overexpression of a specific plasma membrane enzyme, hyaluronan synthase 3 (HAS3), is one of the factors that can induce EV shedding. HAS3, and particularly its product hyaluronan (HA), are carried by EVs and are known to be associated with the tumorigenic properties of cancer cells. To elucidate the specific effects of cancerous, HAS3-induced EVs on target cells, normal human keratinocytes and melanoma cells were treated with EVs derived from GFP-HAS3 expressing metastatic melanoma cells. We found that the HA receptor CD44 participated in the regulation of EV binding to target cells. Furthermore, GFP-HAS3-positive EVs induced HA secretion, proliferation and invasion of target cells. Our results suggest that HAS3-EVs contains increased quantities of IHH, which activates the target cell hedgehog signaling cascade and leads to the activation of c-Myc and regulation of claspin expression. This signaling of IHH in HAS3-EVs resulted in increased cell proliferation. Claspin immunostaining correlated with HA content in human cutaneous melanocytic lesions, supporting our in vitro findings and suggesting a reciprocal regulation between claspin expression and HA synthesis. This study shows for the first time that EVs originating from HAS3 overexpressing cells carry mitogenic signals that induce proliferation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in target cells. The study also identifies a novel feedback regulation between the hedgehog signaling pathway and HA metabolism in melanoma, mediated by EVs carrying HA and IHH.

RevDate: 2021-12-04
CmpDate: 2020-09-25

Heredia-Soto V, Redondo A, Kreilinger JJP, et al (2020)

3D Culture Modelling: An Emerging Approach for Translational Cancer Research in Sarcomas.

Current medicinal chemistry, 27(29):4778-4788.

Sarcomas are tumours of mesenchymal origin, which can arise in bone or soft tissues. They are rare but frequently quite aggressive and with a poor outcome. New approaches are needed to characterise these tumours and their resistance mechanisms to current therapies, responsible for tumour recurrence and treatment failure. This review is focused on the potential of three-dimensional (3D) in vitro models, including multicellular tumour spheroids (MCTS) and organoids, and the latest data about their utility for the study on important properties for tumour development. The use of spheroids as a particularly valuable alternative for compound high throughput screening (HTS) in different areas of cancer biology is also discussed, which enables the identification of new therapeutic opportunities in commonly resistant tumours.

RevDate: 2020-07-08
CmpDate: 2020-07-08

Nanjundiah V (2019)

Individual and collective behaviour in cellular slime mould development: contributions of John Bonner (1920-2019).

The International journal of developmental biology, 63(8-9-10):333-342.

John Bonner used the cellular slime moulds to address issues that lie at the heart of evolutionary and developmental biology. He did so mostly by combining acute observation and a knack for asking the right questions with the methods of classical embryology. The present paper focusses on his contributions to understanding two phenomena that are characteristic of development in general: chemotaxis of single cells to an external attractant, and spatial patterning and proportioning of cell types in the multicellular aggregate. Brief mention is also made of other areas of slime mould biology where he made significant inputs. He saw cellular slime moulds as exemplars of development and worthy of study in their own right. His ideas continue to inspire researchers.

RevDate: 2020-07-08
CmpDate: 2020-07-08

Medina JM, Shreenidhi PM, Larsen TJ, et al (2019)

Cooperation and conflict in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.

The International journal of developmental biology, 63(8-9-10):371-382.

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has provided considerable insight into the evolution of cooperation and conflict. Under starvation, D. discoideum amoebas cooperate to form a fruiting body comprised of hardy spores atop a stalk. The stalk development is altruistic because stalk cells die to aid spore dispersal. The high relatedness of cells in fruiting bodies in nature implies that this altruism often benefits relatives. However, since the fruiting body forms through aggregation there is potential for non-relatives to join the aggregate and create conflict over spore and stalk fates. Cheating is common in chimeras of social amoebas, where one genotype often takes advantage of the other and makes more spores. This social conflict is a significant force in nature as indicated by rapid rates of adaptive evolution in genes involved in cheating and its resistance. However, cheating can be prevented by high relatedness, allorecognition via tgr genes, pleiotropy and evolved resistance. Future avenues for the study of cooperation and conflict in D. discoideum include the sexual cycle as well as the relationship between D. discoideum and its bacterial symbionts. D. discoideum's tractability in the laboratory as well as its uncommon mode of aggregative multicellularity have established it as a promising model for future studies of cooperation and conflict.

RevDate: 2023-10-20
CmpDate: 2020-07-08

Kundert P, G Shaulsky (2019)

Cellular allorecognition and its roles in Dictyostelium development and social evolution.

The International journal of developmental biology, 63(8-9-10):383-393.

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a tractable model organism to study cellular allorecognition, which is the ability of a cell to distinguish itself and its genetically similar relatives from more distantly related organisms. Cellular allorecognition is ubiquitous across the tree of life and affects many biological processes. Depending on the biological context, these versatile systems operate both within and between individual organisms, and both promote and constrain functional heterogeneity. Some of the most notable allorecognition systems mediate neural self-avoidance in flies and adaptive immunity in vertebrates. D. discoideum's allorecognition system shares several structures and functions with other allorecognition systems. Structurally, its key regulators reside at a single genomic locus that encodes two highly polymorphic proteins, a transmembrane ligand called TgrC1 and its receptor TgrB1. These proteins exhibit isoform-specific, heterophilic binding across cells. Functionally, this interaction determines the extent to which co-developing D. discoideum strains co-aggregate or segregate during the aggregation phase of multicellular development. The allorecognition system thus affects both development and social evolution, as available evidence suggests that the threat of developmental cheating represents a primary selective force acting on it. Other significant characteristics that may inform the study of allorecognition in general include that D. discoideum's allorecognition system is a continuous and inclusive trait, it is pleiotropic, and it is temporally regulated.

RevDate: 2024-01-09
CmpDate: 2020-09-04

Karimi E, Geslain E, KleinJan H, et al (2020)

Genome Sequences of 72 Bacterial Strains Isolated from Ectocarpus subulatus: A Resource for Algal Microbiology.

Genome biology and evolution, 12(1):3647-3655.

Brown algae are important primary producers and ecosystem engineers in the ocean, and Ectocarpus has been established as a laboratory model for this lineage. Like most multicellular organisms, Ectocarpus is associated with a community of microorganisms, a partnership frequently referred to as holobiont due to the tight interconnections between the components. Although genomic resources for the algal host are well established, its associated microbiome is poorly characterized from a genomic point of view, limiting the possibilities of using these types of data to study host-microbe interactions. To address this gap in knowledge, we present the annotated draft genome sequences of seventy-two cultivable Ectocarpus-associated bacteria. A screening of gene clusters related to the production of secondary metabolites revealed terpene, bacteriocin, NRPS, PKS-t3, siderophore, PKS-t1, and homoserine lactone clusters to be abundant among the sequenced genomes. These compounds may be used by the bacteria to communicate with the host and other microbes. Moreover, detoxification and provision of vitamin B pathways have been observed in most sequenced genomes, highlighting potential contributions of the bacterial metabolism toward host fitness and survival. The genomes sequenced in this study form a valuable resource for comparative genomic analyses and evolutionary surveys of alga-associated bacteria. They help establish Ectocarpus as a model for brown algal holobionts and will enable the research community to produce testable hypotheses about the molecular interactions within this complex system.

RevDate: 2021-03-18
CmpDate: 2021-03-18

Majic P, JL Payne (2020)

Enhancers Facilitate the Birth of De Novo Genes and Gene Integration into Regulatory Networks.

Molecular biology and evolution, 37(4):1165-1178.

Regulatory networks control the spatiotemporal gene expression patterns that give rise to and define the individual cell types of multicellular organisms. In eumetazoa, distal regulatory elements called enhancers play a key role in determining the structure of such networks, particularly the wiring diagram of "who regulates whom." Mutations that affect enhancer activity can therefore rewire regulatory networks, potentially causing adaptive changes in gene expression. Here, we use whole-tissue and single-cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility data from mouse to show that enhancers play an additional role in the evolution of regulatory networks: They facilitate network growth by creating transcriptionally active regions of open chromatin that are conducive to de novo gene evolution. Specifically, our comparative transcriptomic analysis with three other mammalian species shows that young, mouse-specific intergenic open reading frames are preferentially located near enhancers, whereas older open reading frames are not. Mouse-specific intergenic open reading frames that are proximal to enhancers are more highly and stably transcribed than those that are not proximal to enhancers or promoters, and they are transcribed in a limited diversity of cellular contexts. Furthermore, we report several instances of mouse-specific intergenic open reading frames proximal to promoters showing evidence of being repurposed enhancers. We also show that open reading frames gradually acquire interactions with enhancers over macroevolutionary timescales, helping integrate genes-those that have arisen de novo or by other means-into existing regulatory networks. Taken together, our results highlight a dual role of enhancers in expanding and rewiring gene regulatory networks.

RevDate: 2020-08-19
CmpDate: 2020-08-19

Costa ML, de Andrade Rosa I, Andrade L, et al (2020)

Distinct interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal cells control cell morphology and collective migration during sponge epithelial to mesenchymal transition.

Journal of morphology, 281(2):183-195.

Epithelial and mesenchymal cell types are basic for animal multicellularity and they have complementary functions coordinated by cellular interactions. Sponges are especially important model organisms to address the evolutionary basis of morphogenetic programs for epithelial and mesenchymal organization in animals. Evolutionary studies in sponges can contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that control tissue maintenance and tumor progression in humans. In the present study, sponge mesenchymal and epithelial cells were isolated from the demosponge Hymeniacidon heliophila, and aggregate formation was observed by video microscopy. Epithelial-mesenchymal interaction, epithelial transition, and cell migration led to sponge cell aggregation after drastic stress. Based on their different morphologies, adhesion specificities, and motilities, we suggest a role for different sponge cell types as well as complementary functions in cell aggregation. Micromanipulation under the microscope and cell tracking were also used to promote specific grafting-host interaction, to further test the effects of cell type interaction. The loss of cell polarity and flattened shape during the epithelial to mesenchymal cell transition generated small immobile aggregates of round/amoeboid cells. The motility of these transited epithelial-cell aggregates was observed by cell tracking using fluorescent dye, but only after interaction with streams of migratory mesenchymal cells. Cell motility occurred independently of morphological changes, indicating a progressive step in the transition toward a migratory mesenchymal state. Our data suggest a two-step signaling process: (a) the lack of interaction between mesenchymal and epithelial cells triggers morphological changes; and (b) migratory mesenchymal cells instruct epithelial cells for directional cell motility. These results could have an impact on the understanding of evolutionary aspects of metastatic cancer cells. HIGHLIGHTS: Morphogenetic movements observed in modern sponges could have a common evolutionary origin with collective cell migration of human metastatic cells. A sponge regenerative model was used here to characterize epithelial and mesenchymal cells, and for the promotion of grafting/host interactions with subsequent cell tracking. The transition from epithelial to mesenchymal cell type can be observed in sponges in two steps: (a) withdrawal of epithelial/mesenchymal cell interactions to trigger morphological changes; (b) migratory mesenchymal cells to induce epithelial cells to a collective migratory state.

RevDate: 2021-06-20
CmpDate: 2021-01-08

Erives A, B Fritzsch (2020)

A Screen for Gene Paralogies Delineating Evolutionary Branching Order of Early Metazoa.

G3 (Bethesda, Md.), 10(2):811-826.

The evolutionary diversification of animals is one of Earth's greatest marvels, yet its earliest steps are shrouded in mystery. Animals, the monophyletic clade known as Metazoa, evolved wildly divergent multicellular life strategies featuring ciliated sensory epithelia. In many lineages epithelial sensoria became coupled to increasingly complex nervous systems. Currently, different phylogenetic analyses of single-copy genes support mutually-exclusive possibilities that either Porifera or Ctenophora is sister to all other animals. Resolving this dilemma would advance the ecological and evolutionary understanding of the first animals and the evolution of nervous systems. Here we describe a comparative phylogenetic approach based on gene duplications. We computationally identify and analyze gene families with early metazoan duplications using an approach that mitigates apparent gene loss resulting from the miscalling of paralogs. In the transmembrane channel-like (TMC) family of mechano-transducing channels, we find ancient duplications that define separate clades for Eumetazoa (Placozoa + Cnidaria + Bilateria) vs. Ctenophora, and one duplication that is shared only by Eumetazoa and Porifera. In the Max-like protein X (MLX and MLXIP) family of bHLH-ZIP regulators of metabolism, we find that all major lineages from Eumetazoa and Porifera (sponges) share a duplicated gene pair that is sister to the single-copy gene maintained in Ctenophora. These results suggest a new avenue for deducing deep phylogeny by choosing rather than avoiding ancient gene paralogies.

RevDate: 2021-03-26
CmpDate: 2021-03-26

Wang DG, Huang FR, Chen W, et al (2020)

Clinicopathological Analysis of Acquired Melanocytic Nevi and a Preliminary Study on the Possible Origin of Nevus Cells.

The American Journal of dermatopathology, 42(6):414-422.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of acquired melanocytic nevi (AMN) is still unclear, and the origin of nevus cells has not been clarified.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical features and pathological types of AMN and identify the possible origin of nevus cells.

METHODS: A retrospective study of 2929 cases of AMN was conducted, and 96 specimens of intradermal and junctional nevi were selected. Immunohistochemical assays were performed to detect the expression of basement membrane component receptor DDR-1 and the molecular markers on epidermal melanocytes, dermal stem cells (DSCs), and hair follicle stem cells.

RESULTS: Junctional nevi and compound nevi were prone to occur on glabrous skin, such as the palms, soles, and vulva, and on the extremities in children, whereas intradermal nevi tended to develop on the trunk, head, and face of adults. The immunohistochemical data revealed that both junctional nevi and intradermal nevi expressed the epidermal melanocyte surface markers E-cadherin, DDR-1, and integrin α6 and the DSC molecular markers NGFRp-75 and nestin. CD34 was expressed only in junctional nevi, whereas K19 was not expressed in any type of melanocytic nevi. There was no significant difference in molecular expression at different sites or in different ages of onset. Nestin expression was markedly stronger in the intradermal nevi than in the junctional nevi, but there was no difference between the superficial and deep nevus cell nests of intradermal nevi.

CONCLUSION: AMN may have a multicellular origin that commonly follows the mode of Abtropfung. Furthermore, DSCs may partly or independently participate in the formation of nevus cells.

RevDate: 2021-06-21
CmpDate: 2021-06-21

Bodmer WF, DJM Crouch (2020)

Somatic selection of poorly differentiating variant stem cell clones could be a key to human ageing.

Journal of theoretical biology, 489:110153.

Any replicating system in which heritable variants with differing replicative potentials can arise is subject to a Darwinian evolutionary process. The continually replicating adult tissue stem cells that control the integrity of many tissues of long-lived, multicellular, complex vertebrate organisms, including humans, constitute such a replicating system. Our suggestion is that somatic selection for mutations (or stable epigenetic changes) that cause an increased rate of adult tissue stem cell proliferation, and their long-term persistence, at the expense of normal differentiation, is a major key to the ageing process. Once an organism has passed the reproductive age, there is no longer any significant counterselection at the organismal level to this inevitable cellular level Darwinian process.

RevDate: 2020-06-03
CmpDate: 2020-06-03

Green KJ, Jaiganesh A, JA Broussard (2019)

Desmosomes: Essential contributors to an integrated intercellular junction network.

F1000Research, 8:.

The development of adhesive connections between cells was critical for the evolution of multicellularity and for organizing cells into complex organs with discrete compartments. Four types of intercellular junction are present in vertebrates: desmosomes, adherens junctions, tight junctions, and gap junctions. All are essential for the development of the embryonic layers and organs as well as adult tissue homeostasis. While each junction type is defined as a distinct entity, it is now clear that they cooperate physically and functionally to create a robust and functionally diverse system. During evolution, desmosomes first appeared in vertebrates as highly specialized regions at the plasma membrane that couple the intermediate filament cytoskeleton at points of strong cell-cell adhesion. Here, we review how desmosomes conferred new mechanical and signaling properties to vertebrate cells and tissues through their interactions with the existing junctional and cytoskeletal network.

RevDate: 2020-03-13
CmpDate: 2020-03-13

Wang Y, Wang F, Hong DK, et al (2020)

Molecular characterization of DNA methyltransferase 1 and its role in temperature change of armyworm Mythimna separata Walker.

Archives of insect biochemistry and physiology, 103(4):e21651.

DNA methylation refers to the addition of cytosine residues in a CpG context (5'-cytosine-phosphate-guanine-3'). As one of the most common mechanisms of epigenetic modification, it plays a crucial role in regulating gene expression and in a diverse range of biological processes across all multicellular organisms. The relationship between temperature and DNA methylation and how it acts on the adaptability of migratory insects remain unknown. In the present work, a 5,496 bp full-length complementary DNA encoding 1,436 amino acids (named MsDnmt1) was cloned from the devastating migratory pest oriental armyworm, Mythimna separata Walker. The protein shares 36.8-84.4% identity with other insect Dnmt1 isoforms. Spatial and temporal expression analysis revealed that MsDnmt1 was highly expressed in adult stages and head tissue. The changing temperature decreased the expression of MsDnmt1 in both high and low temperature condition. Besides, we found that M. separata exhibited the shortest duration time from the last instar to pupae under 36°C environment when injected with DNA methylation inhibitor. Therefore, our data highlight a potential role for DNA methylation in thermal resistance, which help us to understand the biological role adaptability and colonization of migratory pest in various environments.

RevDate: 2020-10-16
CmpDate: 2020-10-16

Rowe M, Veerus L, Trosvik P, et al (2020)

The Reproductive Microbiome: An Emerging Driver of Sexual Selection, Sexual Conflict, Mating Systems, and Reproductive Isolation.

Trends in ecology & evolution, 35(3):220-234.

All multicellular organisms host microbial communities in and on their bodies, and these microbiomes can have major influences on host biology. Most research has focussed on the oral, skin, and gut microbiomes, whereas relatively little is known about the reproductive microbiome. Here, we review empirical evidence to show that reproductive microbiomes can have significant effects on the reproductive function and performance of males and females. We then discuss the likely repercussions of these effects for evolutionary processes related to sexual selection and sexual conflict, as well as mating systems and reproductive isolation. We argue that knowledge of the reproductive microbiome is fundamental to our understanding of the evolutionary ecology of reproductive strategies and sexual dynamics of host organisms.

RevDate: 2021-01-26
CmpDate: 2020-11-30

Oña L, M Lachmann (2020)

Signalling architectures can prevent cancer evolution.

Scientific reports, 10(1):674.

Cooperation between cells in multicellular organisms is preserved by an active regulation of growth through the control of cell division. Molecular signals used by cells for tissue growth are usually present during developmental stages, angiogenesis, wound healing and other processes. In this context, the use of molecular signals triggering cell division is a puzzle, because any molecule inducing and aiding growth can be exploited by a cancer cell, disrupting cellular cooperation. A significant difference is that normal cells in a multicellular organism have evolved in competition between high-level organisms to be altruistic, being able to send signals even if it is to their detriment. Conversely, cancer cells evolve their abuse over the cancer's lifespan by out-competing their neighbours. A successful mutation leading to cancer must evolve to be adaptive, enabling a cancer cell to send a signal that results in higher chances to be selected. Using a mathematical model of such molecular signalling mechanism, this paper argues that a signal mechanism would be effective against abuse by cancer if it affects the cell that generates the signal as well as neighbouring cells that would receive a benefit without any cost, resulting in a selective disadvantage for a cancer signalling cell. We find that such molecular signalling mechanisms normally operate in cells as exemplified by growth factors. In scenarios of global and local competition between cells, we calculate how this process affects the fixation probability of a mutant cell generating such a signal, and find that this process can play a key role in limiting the emergence of cancer.

RevDate: 2025-05-30
CmpDate: 2020-10-13

Reddy PC, Pradhan SJ, Karmodiya K, et al (2020)

Origin of RNA Polymerase II pause in eumetazoans: Insights from Hydra.

Journal of biosciences, 45:.

Multicellular organisms have evolved sophisticated mechanisms for responding to various developmental, environmental and physical stimuli by regulating transcription. The correlation of distribution of RNA Polymerase II (RNA Pol II) with transcription is well established in higher metazoans, however genome-wide information about its distribution in early metazoans, such as Hydra, is virtually absent. To gain insights into RNA Pol II-mediated transcription and chromatin organization in Hydra, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-coupled high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) for RNA Pol II and Histone H3. Strikingly, we found that Hydra RNA Pol II is uniformly distributed across the entire gene body, as opposed to its counterparts in bilaterians such as human and mouse. Furthermore, correlation with transcriptome data revealed that the levels of RNA Pol II correlate with the magnitude of gene expression. Strikingly, the characteristic peak of RNA Pol II pause typically observed in bilaterians at the transcription start sites (TSSs) was not observed in Hydra. The RNA Pol II traversing ratio in Hydra was found to be intermediate to yeast and bilaterians. The search for factors involved in RNA Pol II pause revealed that RNA Pol II pausing machinery was most likely acquired first in Cnidaria. However, only a small subset of genes exhibited the promoter proximal RNP Pol II pause. Interestingly, the nucleosome occupancy is highest over the subset of paused genes as compared to total Hydra genes, which is another indication of paused RNA Pol II at these genes. Thus, this study provides evidence for the molecular basis of RNA Pol II pause early during the evolution of multicellular organisms.

RevDate: 2020-11-12
CmpDate: 2020-11-12

Bissoli I, C Muscari (2020)

Doxorubicin and α-Mangostin oppositely affect luminal breast cancer cell stemness evaluated by a new retinaldehyde-dependent ALDH assay in MCF-7 tumor spheroids.

Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie, 124:109927.

According to cancer stem cell theory, only a limited number of self-renewing and cloning cells are responsible for tumor relapse after a period of remittance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of Doxorubicin and α-Mangostin, two antiproliferative drugs, on both tumor bulk and stem cells in multicellular tumor spheroids originated from the luminal MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. A new and original fluorimetric assay was used to selectively measure the activity of the retinaldehyde-dependent isoenzymes of aldehyde dehydrogenase (RALDH), which are markers of a subpopulation of breast cancer stem cells. The administration of 5 μg/ml (12.2 μM) α-Mangostin for 48 h provoked: i) a marked disaggregation of the spheroids, leading to a doubling of their volume (p < 0.01), ii) a 40 % decrease in cell viability (p < 0.01), evaluated by the acid phosphatase assay, and iii) a reduction by more than 90 % of RALDH activity. By contrast, Doxorubicin given for 48 h in the range of 0.1-40 μM did not significantly reduce cell viability and caused only a modest modification of the spheroid morphology. Moreover, 40 μM Doxorubicin increased RALDH activity 2.5-fold compared to the untreated sample. When the two drugs were administered together using 5 μg/ml α-Mangostin, the IC50 of Doxorubicin referred to cell viability decreased six-fold and the RALDH activity was further reduced. In conclusion, the combined administration of Doxorubicin and α-Mangostin provoked a significant cytotoxicity and a remarkable inhibition of RALDH activity in MCF-7 tumor spheroids, suggesting that these drugs could be effective in reducing cell stemness in luminal breast cancer.

RevDate: 2024-11-10
CmpDate: 2020-08-21

Yao M, Ventura PB, Jiang Y, et al (2020)

Astrocytic trans-Differentiation Completes a Multicellular Paracrine Feedback Loop Required for Medulloblastoma Tumor Growth.

Cell, 180(3):502-520.e19.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is critical for tumor progression. However, the establishment and function of the TME remain obscure because of its complex cellular composition. Using a mouse genetic system called mosaic analysis with double markers (MADMs), we delineated TME evolution at single-cell resolution in sonic hedgehog (SHH)-activated medulloblastomas that originate from unipotent granule neuron progenitors in the brain. First, we found that astrocytes within the TME (TuAstrocytes) were trans-differentiated from tumor granule neuron precursors (GNPs), which normally never differentiate into astrocytes. Second, we identified that TME-derived IGF1 promotes tumor progression. Third, we uncovered that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) is produced by tumor-associated microglia in response to interleukin-4 (IL-4) stimulation. Finally, we found that IL-4 is secreted by TuAstrocytes. Collectively, our studies reveal an evolutionary process that produces a multi-lateral network within the TME of medulloblastoma: a fraction of tumor cells trans-differentiate into TuAstrocytes, which, in turn, produce IL-4 that stimulates microglia to produce IGF1 to promote tumor progression.

RevDate: 2021-02-11
CmpDate: 2021-02-11

Rimskaya-Korsakova N, Dyachuk V, E Temereva (2020)

Parapodial glandular organs in Owenia borealis (Annelida: Oweniidae) and their possible relationship with nephridia.

Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution, 334(2):88-99.

Oweniidae is a basal group of recent annelids and nowadays it attracts the attention of researchers of many biological fields. Surprisingly, details of their anatomy, like the adult excretory system, remain obscure. Researchers recently suggested that the paired organs of tubeworms in the family Oweniidae are related to nephridia. In the current study of Owenia borealis adults, we determined that these structures are parapodial glandular organs (PGOs) and are located in the first two segments of adults. The PGOs are complex subepidermal multicellular glands that contain secretory cells, that is, goblet cells, which are differentiated by the type of the producing tube matter. The goblet cells are surrounded by muscles that are used to extrude material stored in the PGO's lumen into the external environment. The anterior pair of PGOs have very well-developed rough endoplasmatic reticulum in the proximal cells, spacious Golgi complexes, numerous nail-shaped microvilli, and apocrine secretory processes in the goblet cells of the distal parts. The posterior pair of PGOs only consists of cells, which probably produce proteinaceous fibrils. We discuss the homology of goblet cells with specific nail-shaped microvilli that produce β-chitin within annelids. We also discuss the possibility that PGOs and nephridia have a common origin. This study provides new information on the ultrastructure of cells that secrete the organic material used to form the tubes inhabited by tube-dwelling annelids.

RevDate: 2024-03-28
CmpDate: 2021-05-14

Alsufyani T, Califano G, Deicke M, et al (2020)

Macroalgal-bacterial interactions: identification and role of thallusin in morphogenesis of the seaweed Ulva (Chlorophyta).

Journal of experimental botany, 71(11):3340-3349.

Macroalgal microbiomes have core functions related to biofilm formation, growth, and morphogenesis of seaweeds. In particular, the growth and development of the sea lettuce Ulva spp. (Chlorophyta) depend on bacteria releasing morphogenetic compounds. Under axenic conditions, the macroalga Ulva mutabilis develops a callus-like phenotype with cell wall protrusions. However, co-culturing with Roseovarius sp. (MS2) and Maribacter sp. (MS6), which produce various stimulatory chemical mediators, completely recovers morphogenesis. This ecological reconstruction forms a tripartite community which can be further studied for its role in cross-kingdom interactions. Hence, our study sought to identify algal growth- and morphogenesis-promoting factors (AGMPFs) capable of phenocopying the activity of Maribacter spp. We performed bioassay-guided solid-phase extraction in water samples collected from U. mutabilis aquaculture systems. We uncovered novel ecophysiological functions of thallusin, a sesquiterpenoid morphogen, identified for the first time in algal aquaculture. Thallusin, released by Maribacter sp., induced rhizoid and cell wall formation at a concentration of 11 pmol l-1. We demonstrated that gametes acquired the iron complex of thallusin, thereby linking morphogenetic processes with intracellular iron homeostasis. Understanding macroalgae-bacteria interactions permits further elucidation of the evolution of multicellularity and cellular differentiation, and development of new applications in microbiome-mediated aquaculture systems.

RevDate: 2021-02-12
CmpDate: 2020-06-23

Carmel Y, A Shavit (2020)

Operationalizing evolutionary transitions in individuality.

Proceedings. Biological sciences, 287(1920):20192805.

Evolutionary transitions in individuality (hereafter, ETIs), such as the transition to multi-cellularity and the transition to social colonies, have been at the centre of evolutionary research, but only few attempts were made to systematically operationalize this concept. Here, we devise a set of four indicators intended to assess the change in complexity during ETIs: system size, inseparability, reproductive specialization and non-reproductive specialization. We then conduct a quantitative comparison across multiple taxa and ETIs. Our analysis reveals that inseparability has a crucial role in the process; it seems irreversible and may mark the point where a group of individuals becomes a new individual at a higher hierarchical level. Interestingly, we find that disparate groups demonstrate a similar pattern of progression along ETIs.

RevDate: 2022-12-07
CmpDate: 2020-06-29

Nishino J, Watanabe S, Miya F, et al (2020)

Quantification of multicellular colonization in tumor metastasis using exome-sequencing data.

International journal of cancer, 146(9):2488-2497.

Metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related mortality, and it is essential to understand how metastasis occurs in order to overcome it. One relevant question is the origin of a metastatic tumor cell population. Although the hypothesis of a single-cell origin for metastasis from a primary tumor has long been prevalent, several recent studies using mouse models have supported a multicellular origin of metastasis. Human bulk whole-exome sequencing (WES) studies also have demonstrated a multiple "clonal" origin of metastasis, with different mutational compositions. Specifically, there has not yet been strong research to determine how many founder cells colonize a metastatic tumor. To address this question, under the metastatic model of "single bottleneck followed by rapid growth," we developed a method to quantify the "founder cell population size" in a metastasis using paired WES data from primary and metachronous metastatic tumors. Simulation studies demonstrated the proposed method gives unbiased results with sufficient accuracy in the range of realistic settings. Applying the proposed method to real WES data from four colorectal cancer patients, all samples supported a multicellular origin of metastasis and the founder size was quantified, ranging from 3 to 17 cells. Such a wide-range of founder sizes estimated by the proposed method suggests that there are large variations in genetic similarity between primary and metastatic tumors in the same subjects, which may explain the observed (dis)similarity of drug responses between tumors.

RevDate: 2020-03-16
CmpDate: 2020-03-16

Dokanehiifard S, Soltani BM, Ghiasi P, et al (2020)

hsa-miR-766-5p as a new regulator of mitochondrial apoptosis pathway for discriminating of cell death from cardiac differentiation.

Gene, 736:144448.

Dispose of unnecessary cells in multicellular organism take place through apoptosis as a mode of programmed cell death (PCD). This process is triggered through two main pathway including extrinsic pathway or death receptor pathway and intrinsic or mitochondrial pathway. An alternative role for mitochondrial pathway of cell death is its involvement in cell differentiation. Biochemistry of cell differentiation indicates a common origin for differentiation and apoptosis. miRNAs are a group of small non coding mediator RNAs in regulation of many routes such as apoptosis and differentiation. By using bioinformatics tools hsa-miR-766-5p was predicted to target the BAX, BAK and BOK genes involved in mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. RT-qPCR and dual luciferase assay showed targeting of BAX, BAK and BOK 3'UTRs via hsa-miR-766, detected in SW480 and HEK293T cell lines. Caspases 3/7 and 9 activity assay revealed the involvement of hsa-miR-766-5p in mitochondrial apoptosis pathway regulation detected following overexpression and downregulation of this miRNA, detected in SW480 cells treated with 1 μM doxorubicin. Flow cytometry and MTT assay indicated cell death reduction and viability elevation effect of hsa-miR-766 in SW480 cells after its overexpression. Endogenous expression of hsa-miR-766 during the course of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) differentiation into cardiomyocytes revealed an inverse expression status of this miRNA with BOK. However, the expression of this miRNA was inversely related to BAX and BAK for some time points of differentiation. Overall this results show the involvement of hsa-miR-766 in regulation of mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.

RevDate: 2021-06-24
CmpDate: 2021-06-24

Duan H, Ni S, Yang S, et al (2020)

Conservation of eATP perception throughout multicellular animal evolution: Identification and functional characterization of coral and amphioxus P2X7-like receptors and flounder P2X7 receptor.

Developmental and comparative immunology, 106:103641.

Perception of extracellular ATP (eATP), a common endogenous damage-associated molecular pattern, is through its receptor P2X7R. If eATP/P2X7R signaling is conserved throughout animal evolution is unknown. Moreover, little information is currently available regarding P2X7R in invertebrates. Here we demonstrated that the coral P2X7-like receptor, AdP2X7RL, the amphioxus P2X7-like receptor, BjP2X7RL and the flounder P2X7 receptor, PoP2X7R, shared common features characteristic of mammalian P2X7R, and their 3D structures displayed high resemblance to that of human P2X7R. Expression of Adp2x7rl, Bjp2x7rl and Pop2x7r was all subjected to the regulation by LPS and ATP. We also showed that AdP2X7RL, BjP2X7RL and PoP2X7R were distributed on the plasma membrane in AdP2X7RL-, BjP2X7RL- and PoP2X7R-expressing HEK cells, and had strong affinity to eATP. Importantly, the binding of AdP2X7RL, BjP2X7RL and PoP2X7R to eATP all induced similar downstream responses, including induction of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and CCL-2), enhancement of phagocytosis and activation of AKT/ERK-associated signaling pathway observed for mammalian P2X7R. Collectively, our results indicate for the first time that both coral and amphioxus P2X7RL as well as flounder P2X7R can interact with eATP, and induce events that trigger mammalian mechanisms, suggesting the high conservation of eATP perception throughout multicellular animal evolution.

RevDate: 2025-05-30
CmpDate: 2020-09-29

Prior KF, Rijo-Ferreira F, Assis PA, et al (2020)

Periodic Parasites and Daily Host Rhythms.

Cell host & microbe, 27(2):176-187.

Biological rhythms appear to be an elegant solution to the challenge of coordinating activities with the consequences of the Earth's daily and seasonal rotation. The genes and molecular mechanisms underpinning circadian clocks in multicellular organisms are well understood. In contrast, the regulatory mechanisms and fitness consequences of biological rhythms exhibited by parasites remain mysterious. Here, we explore how periodicity in parasite traits is generated and why daily rhythms matter for parasite fitness. We focus on malaria (Plasmodium) parasites which exhibit developmental rhythms during replication in the mammalian host's blood and in transmission to vectors. Rhythmic in-host parasite replication is responsible for eliciting inflammatory responses, the severity of disease symptoms, and fueling transmission, as well as conferring tolerance to anti-parasite drugs. Thus, understanding both how and why the timing and synchrony of parasites are connected to the daily rhythms of hosts and vectors may make treatment more effective and less toxic to hosts.

RevDate: 2021-06-24
CmpDate: 2021-06-24

Lamrabet O, Jauslin T, Lima WC, et al (2020)

The multifarious lysozyme arsenal of Dictyostelium discoideum.

Developmental and comparative immunology, 107:103645.

Dictyostelium discoideum is a free-living soil amoeba which feeds upon bacteria. To bind, ingest, and kill bacteria, D. discoideum uses molecular mechanisms analogous to those found in professional phagocytic cells of multicellular organisms. D. discoideum is equipped with a large arsenal of antimicrobial peptides and proteins including amoebapore-like peptides and lysozymes. This review describes the family of lysozymes in D. discoideum. We identified 22 genes potentially encoding four different types of lysozymes in the D. discoideum genome. Although most of these genes are also present in the genomes of other amoebal species, no other organism is as well-equipped with lysozyme genes as D. discoideum.

RevDate: 2021-06-21
CmpDate: 2021-06-21

Agosti A, Marchesi S, Scita G, et al (2020)

Modelling cancer cell budding in-vitro as a self-organised, non-equilibrium growth process.

Journal of theoretical biology, 492:110203.

Tissue self-organization into defined and well-controlled three-dimensional structures is essential during development for the generation of organs. A similar, but highly deranged process might also occur during the aberrant growth of cancers, which frequently display a loss of the orderly structures of the tissue of origin, but retain a multicellular organization in the form of spheroids, strands, and buds. The latter structures are often seen when tumors masses switch to an invasive behavior into surrounding tissues. However, the general physical principles governing the self-organized architectures of tumor cell populations remain by and large unclear. In this work, we perform in-vitro experiments to characterize the growth properties of glioblastoma budding emerging from monolayers. We further propose a theoretical model and its finite element implementation to characterize such a topological transition, that is modelled as a self-organised, non-equilibrium phenomenon driven by the trade-off of mechanical forces and physical interactions exerted at cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesions. Notably, the unstable disorder states of uncontrolled cellular proliferation macroscopically emerge as complex spatio-temporal patterns that evolve statistically correlated by a universal law.

RevDate: 2021-02-04
CmpDate: 2021-02-04

Kulanthaivelu K, Bhat MD, Prasad C, et al (2020)

Brain MRI Findings in Coenurosis: A Helminth Infection.

Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging, 30(3):359-369.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Parasitic neuroinfections in humans have etiological agents spanning a broad spectrum from unicellular (protozoan) to multicellular helminthic (metazoan) organisms. Cerebral coenurosis is a rare cestodal helminthic infection caused by Taenia multiceps. The neuroimaging features of this entity were reviewed to discern an imaging phenotype.

METHODS: Retrospective analysis was performed on 6 cases of cerebral coenurosis, whose diagnoses were confirmed by histopathology. The clinical, imaging, and histopathological features were recorded for analysis.

RESULTS: Clinical expressions included focal neurological deficit due to mass effect (n = 4), intraventricular obstruction with features of raised intracranial tension (n = 1), headache (n = 3), seizures (n = 3), and incidental lesions (n = 1). One patient presented with recurrence 1 year after surgical excision. Neuroimaging revealed cystic thin-walled lesions with clustered eccentric internal nodules corresponding to the plenitude of protoscolices of the tapeworm. Three of the lesions showed a multilocular cystic morphology. Spectroscopic metabolite signature of alanine and succinate commensurate with the parasitic etiology was remarkable in the lesions. Enhancement and edema inversely correlated with the signal suppression on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging. The lesions had a predominantly juxtacortical distribution.

CONCLUSIONS: In an appropriate clinical setting, a cystic lesion with clustered eccentric internal nodular foci ought to raise the suspicion of this rare infection. Magnetic resonance spectroscopic signature of succinate and alanine, if present, further strengthens the likelihood of coenurosis. Signal characteristics, wall enhancement, and perilesional edema may vary, possibly determined by the stage in the evolution of the parasite.

RevDate: 2020-11-16
CmpDate: 2020-11-16

Raudenská M, Svobodová M, Gumulec J, et al (2020)

The Importance of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in the Pathogenesis of Head and Neck Cancers.

Klinicka onkologie : casopis Ceske a Slovenske onkologicke spolecnosti, 33(1):39-48.

BACKGROUND: Despite progress in anticancer therapies, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has still a low survival rate. Recent studies have shown that tumour stroma may play an important role in the pathogenesis of this malignant disease. Fibroblasts are a major component of the tumour microenvironment and may significantly influence HNSCC progression as indicated by the contribution they make to important hallmarks of cancer, such as inflammation, non-restricted growth, angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, and therapy resistance. It is well known that tumour cells can confer a cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) phenotype that supports the growth and dissemination of cancer cells. CAFs can stimulate cancer progression through cell-cell contacts and communication, remodelling of extracellular matrix, and production of many signal molecules and matrix metalloproteinases. Consequently, genetic changes in epithelial cells are probably not the only factor that drives HNSCC carcinogenesis. Non-genetic changes in the tumour stroma can also be significantly involved. Stress-induced signals can induce a multicellular program, creating a field of tissue that is predisposed to malignant transformation. The “field cancerization” concept represents a process of active evolution of intercellular interactions and feedback loops between tumour and stromal cells. This model paves the way to study cancer from a new perspective and identify new therapeutic targets.

PURPOSE: In this review, we discuss current knowledge about CAFs, such as their cellular origin, phenotypical plasticity and functional heterogeneity, and stress their contribution to HNSCC progression. This article was supported by the project AZV 16-29835A. The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE recommendation for biomedical papers. Submitted: 18. 6. 2019 Accepted: 9. 9. 2019.

RevDate: 2020-08-10
CmpDate: 2020-08-10

Erwin DH (2020)

The origin of animal body plans: a view from fossil evidence and the regulatory genome.

Development (Cambridge, England), 147(4): pii:147/4/dev182899.

The origins and the early evolution of multicellular animals required the exploitation of holozoan genomic regulatory elements and the acquisition of new regulatory tools. Comparative studies of metazoans and their relatives now allow reconstruction of the evolution of the metazoan regulatory genome, but the deep conservation of many genes has led to varied hypotheses about the morphology of early animals and the extent of developmental co-option. In this Review, I assess the emerging view that the early diversification of animals involved small organisms with diverse cell types, but largely lacking complex developmental patterning, which evolved independently in different bilaterian clades during the Cambrian Explosion.

RevDate: 2024-09-30
CmpDate: 2020-05-04

Finoshin AD, Adameyko KI, Mikhailov KV, et al (2020)

Iron metabolic pathways in the processes of sponge plasticity.

PloS one, 15(2):e0228722.

The ability to regulate oxygen consumption evolved in ancestral animals and is intrinsically linked to iron metabolism. The iron pathways have been intensively studied in mammals, whereas data on distant invertebrates are limited. Sea sponges represent the oldest animal phylum and have unique structural plasticity and capacity to reaggregate after complete dissociation. We studied iron metabolic factors and their expression during reaggregation in the White Sea cold-water sponges Halichondria panicea and Halisarca dujardini. De novo transcriptomes were assembled using RNA-Seq data, and evolutionary trends were analyzed with bioinformatic tools. Differential expression during reaggregation was studied for H. dujardini. Enzymes of the heme biosynthesis pathway and transport globins, neuroglobin (NGB) and androglobin (ADGB), were identified in sponges. The globins mutate at higher evolutionary rates than the heme synthesis enzymes. Highly conserved iron-regulatory protein 1 (IRP1) presumably interacts with the iron-responsive elements (IREs) found in mRNAs of ferritin (FTH1) and a putative transferrin receptor NAALAD2. The reaggregation process is accompanied by increased expression of IRP1, the antiapoptotic factor BCL2, the inflammation factor NFκB (p65), FTH1 and NGB, as well as by an increase in mitochondrial density. Our data indicate a complex mechanism of iron regulation in sponge structural plasticity and help to better understand general mechanisms of morphogenetic processes in multicellular species.

RevDate: 2024-01-09
CmpDate: 2020-08-14

Moody LA (2020)

Three-dimensional growth: a developmental innovation that facilitated plant terrestrialization.

Journal of plant research, 133(3):283-290.

One of the most transformative events in the history of life on earth was the transition of plants from water to land approximately 470 million years ago. Within the Charophyte green algae, the closest living relatives of land plants, body plans have evolved from those that comprise simple unicells to those that are morphologically complex, large and multicellular. The Charophytes developed these broad ranging body plans by exploiting a range of one-dimensional and two-dimensional growth strategies to produce filaments, mats and branches. When plants were confronted with harsh conditions on land, they were required to make significant changes to the way they shaped their body plans. One of the fundamental developmental transitions that occurred was the evolution of three-dimensional growth and the acquisition of apical cells with three or more cutting faces. Plants subsequently developed a range of morphological adaptations (e.g. vasculature, roots, flowers, seeds) that enabled them to colonise progressively drier environments. 3D apical growth also evolved convergently in the brown algae, completely independently of the green lineage. This review summarises the evolving developmental complexities observed in the early divergent Charophytes all the way through to the earliest conquerors of land, and investigates 3D apical growth in the brown algae.

RevDate: 2021-07-15
CmpDate: 2021-07-15

Tan Y, Barnbrook M, Wilson Y, et al (2020)

Shared Mutations in a Novel Glutaredoxin Repressor of Multicellular Trichome Fate Underlie Parallel Evolution of Antirrhinum Species.

Current biology : CB, 30(8):1357-1366.e4.

Most angiosperms produce trichomes-epidermal hairs that have protective or more specialized roles. Trichomes are multicellular in almost all species and, in the majority, secretory. Despite the importance of multicellular trichomes for plant protection and as a source of high-value products, the mechanisms that control their development are only poorly understood. Here, we investigate the control of multicellular trichome patterns using natural variation within the genus Antirrhinum (snapdragons), which has evolved hairy alpine-adapted species or lowland species with a restricted trichome pattern multiple times in parallel. We find that a single gene, Hairy (H), which is needed to repress trichome fate, underlies variation in trichome patterns between all Antirrhinum species except one. We show that H encodes a novel epidermis-specific glutaredoxin and that the pattern of trichome distribution within individuals reflects the location of H expression. Phylogenetic and functional tests suggest that H gained its trichome-repressing role late in the history of eudicots and that the ancestral Antirrhinum had an active H gene and restricted trichome distribution. Loss of H function was involved in an early divergence of alpine and lowland Antirrhinum lineages, and the alleles underlying this split were later reused in parallel evolution of alpines from lowland ancestors, and vice versa. We also find evidence for an evolutionary reversal from a widespread to restricted trichome distribution involving a suppressor mutation and for a pleiotropic effect of H on plant growth that might constrain the evolution of trichome pattern.

RevDate: 2020-10-09
CmpDate: 2020-10-09

Urayama SI, Takaki Y, Hagiwara D, et al (2020)

dsRNA-seq Reveals Novel RNA Virus and Virus-Like Putative Complete Genome Sequences from Hymeniacidon sp. Sponge.

Microbes and environments, 35(2):.

Invertebrates are a source of previously unknown RNA viruses that fill gaps in the viral phylogenetic tree. Although limited information is currently available on RNA viral diversity in the marine sponge, a primordial multicellular animal that belongs to the phylum Porifera, the marine sponge is one of the well-studied holobiont systems. In the present study, we elucidated the putative complete genome sequences of five novel RNA viruses from Hymeniacidon sponge using a combination of double-stranded RNA sequencing, called fragmented and primer ligated dsRNA sequencing, and a conventional transcriptome method targeting single-stranded RNA. We identified highly diverged RNA-dependent RNA polymerase sequences, including a potential novel RNA viral lineage, in the sponge and three viruses presumed to infect sponge cells.

RevDate: 2020-11-18
CmpDate: 2020-11-18

Bonsignore P, Kuiper JWP, Adrian J, et al (2019)

CEACAM3-A Prim(at)e Invention for Opsonin-Independent Phagocytosis of Bacteria.

Frontiers in immunology, 10:3160.

Phagocytosis is one of the key innate defense mechanisms executed by specialized cells in multicellular animals. Recent evidence suggests that a particular phagocytic receptor expressed by human polymorphonuclear granulocytes, the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 3 (CEACAM3), is one of the fastest-evolving human proteins. In this focused review, we will try to resolve the conundrum why a conserved process such as phagocytosis is conducted by a rapidly changing receptor. Therefore, we will first summarize the biochemical and structural details of this immunoglobulin-related glycoprotein in the context of the human CEACAM family. The function of CEACAM3 for the efficient, opsonin-independent detection and phagocytosis of highly specialized, host-restricted bacteria will be further elaborated. Taking into account the decisive role of CEACAM3 in the interaction with pathogenic bacteria, we will discuss the evolutionary trajectory of the CEACAM3 gene within the primate lineage and highlight the consequences of CEACAM3 polymorphisms in human populations. From a synopsis of these studies, CEACAM3 emerges as an important component of human innate immunity and a prominent example of a dedicated receptor for professional phagocytosis.

RevDate: 2020-06-01
CmpDate: 2020-06-01

Chen CY, Nguyen LT, Paoli GC, et al (2020)

The complex multicellular morphology of the food spoilage bacteria Brochothrix thermosphacta strains isolated from ground chicken.

Canadian journal of microbiology, 66(4):303-312.

Herein we describe a highly structured, filamentous growth phenotype displayed by an isolate of the food spoilage microorganism Brochothrix thermosphacta. The growth morphology of this B. thermosphacta strain (strain BII) was dependent on environmental factors such as the growth media, incubation temperatures, and the inoculum concentration. Inoculation of cultures in highly dilute suspensions resulted in the formation of isolated, tight aggregates resembling fungal growth in liquid media. This same strain also formed stable, mesh-like structures in 6-well tissue culture plates under specific growth conditions. The complex growth phenotype does not appear to be unique to strain BII but was common among B. thermosphacta strains isolated from chicken. Light and electron micrographs showed that the filaments of multiple BII cells can organize into complex, tertiary structures resembling multistranded cables. Time-lapse microscopy was employed to monitor the development of such aggregates over 18 h and revealed growth originating from short filaments into compact ball-like clusters that appeared fuzzy due to protruding filaments or cables. This report is the first to document this complex filamentous growth phenotype in a wild-type bacterial isolate of B. thermosphacta.

RevDate: 2024-09-30
CmpDate: 2020-06-17

Ronquist F, Forshage M, Häggqvist S, et al (2020)

Completing Linnaeus's inventory of the Swedish insect fauna: Only 5,000 species left?.

PloS one, 15(3):e0228561.

Despite more than 250 years of taxonomic research, we still have only a vague idea about the true size and composition of the faunas and floras of the planet. Many biodiversity inventories provide limited insight because they focus on a small taxonomic subsample or a tiny geographic area. Here, we report on the size and composition of the Swedish insect fauna, thought to represent roughly half of the diversity of multicellular life in one of the largest European countries. Our results are based on more than a decade of data from the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative and its massive inventory of the country's insect fauna, the Swedish Malaise Trap Project The fauna is considered one of the best known in the world, but the initiative has nevertheless revealed a surprising amount of hidden diversity: more than 3,000 new species (301 new to science) have been documented so far. Here, we use three independent methods to analyze the true size and composition of the fauna at the family or subfamily level: (1) assessments by experts who have been working on the most poorly known groups in the fauna; (2) estimates based on the proportion of new species discovered in the Malaise trap inventory; and (3) extrapolations based on species abundance and incidence data from the inventory. For the last method, we develop a new estimator, the combined non-parametric estimator, which we show is less sensitive to poor coverage of the species pool than other popular estimators. The three methods converge on similar estimates of the size and composition of the fauna, suggesting that it comprises around 33,000 species. Of those, 8,600 (26%) were unknown at the start of the inventory and 5,000 (15%) still await discovery. We analyze the taxonomic and ecological composition of the estimated fauna, and show that most of the new species belong to Hymenoptera and Diptera groups that are decomposers or parasitoids. Thus, current knowledge of the Swedish insect fauna is strongly biased taxonomically and ecologically, and we show that similar but even stronger biases have distorted our understanding of the fauna in the past. We analyze latitudinal gradients in the size and composition of known European insect faunas and show that several of the patterns contradict the Swedish data, presumably due to similar knowledge biases. Addressing these biases is critical in understanding insect biomes and the ecosystem services they provide. Our results emphasize the need to broaden the taxonomic scope of current insect monitoring efforts, a task that is all the more urgent as recent studies indicate a possible worldwide decline in insect faunas.

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ESP Quick Facts

ESP Origins

In the early 1990's, Robert Robbins was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins, where he directed the informatics core of GDB — the human gene-mapping database of the international human genome project. To share papers with colleagues around the world, he set up a small paper-sharing section on his personal web page. This small project evolved into The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project.

ESP Support

In 1995, Robbins became the VP/IT of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA. Soon after arriving in Seattle, Robbins secured funding, through the ELSI component of the US Human Genome Project, to create the original ESP.ORG web site, with the formal goal of providing free, world-wide access to the literature of classical genetics.

ESP Rationale

Although the methods of molecular biology can seem almost magical to the uninitiated, the original techniques of classical genetics are readily appreciated by one and all: cross individuals that differ in some inherited trait, collect all of the progeny, score their attributes, and propose mechanisms to explain the patterns of inheritance observed.

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In reading the early works of classical genetics, one is drawn, almost inexorably, into ever more complex models, until molecular explanations begin to seem both necessary and natural. At that point, the tools for understanding genome research are at hand. Assisting readers reach this point was the original goal of The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project.

ESP Usage

Usage of the site grew rapidly and has remained high. Faculty began to use the site for their assigned readings. Other on-line publishers, ranging from The New York Times to Nature referenced ESP materials in their own publications. Nobel laureates (e.g., Joshua Lederberg) regularly used the site and even wrote to suggest changes and improvements.

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When the site began, no journals were making their early content available in digital format. As a result, ESP was obliged to digitize classic literature before it could be made available. For many important papers — such as Mendel's original paper or the first genetic map — ESP had to produce entirely new typeset versions of the works, if they were to be available in a high-quality format.

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Early support from the DOE component of the Human Genome Project was critically important for getting the ESP project on a firm foundation. Since that funding ended (nearly 20 years ago), the project has been operated as a purely volunteer effort. Anyone wishing to assist in these efforts should send an email to Robbins.

ESP Plans

With the development of methods for adding typeset side notes to PDF files, the ESP project now plans to add annotated versions of some classical papers to its holdings. We also plan to add new reference and pedagogical material. We have already started providing regularly updated, comprehensive bibliographies to the ESP.ORG site.

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Papers in Classical Genetics

The ESP began as an effort to share a handful of key papers from the early days of classical genetics. Now the collection has grown to include hundreds of papers, in full-text format.

Digital Books

Along with papers on classical genetics, ESP offers a collection of full-text digital books, including many works by Darwin and even a collection of poetry — Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg.

Timelines

ESP now offers a large collection of user-selected side-by-side timelines (e.g., all science vs. all other categories, or arts and culture vs. world history), designed to provide a comparative context for appreciating world events.

Biographies

Biographical information about many key scientists (e.g., Walter Sutton).

Selected Bibliographies

Bibliographies on several topics of potential interest to the ESP community are automatically maintained and generated on the ESP site.

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