0000000000390837
AUTHOR
Sebastian Sudek
Synthesis of the neurotoxin quinolinic acid in apoptotic tissue from Suberites domuncula: cell biological, molecular biological and chemical analyses
Sessile marine animals, such as sponges, are prone to infection by prokaryotic as well as by eukaryotic attacking organisms. In the present study we document for the first time that in tissue from sponges which underwent apoptosis, a toxic compound is produced which very likely controls the elimination of the dying tissue. The marine sponge Suberites domuncula develops in the field occasionally apoptotic tissue areas which are rapidly eliminated. In the present study apoptosis was induced in S. domuncula by exposing the specimens in aquaria to 5 µg/ml Dip or by maintaining the sponges for 3 - 5 days under non-aeration conditions. After that treatment only one eukaryotic epibiont, the mollus…
Expression of one sponge Iroquois homeobox gene in primmorphs from Suberites domuncula during canal formation
SUMMARY Sponges (Porifera) represent the evolutionary oldest multicellular animals. They are provided with the basic molecules involved in cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. We report here the isolation and characterization of a complementary DNA from the sponge Suberites domuncula coding for the sponge homeobox gene, SUBDOIRX-a. The deduced polypeptide with a predicted Mr of 44,375 possesses the highly conserved Iroquois-homeodomain. We applied in situ hybridization to localize Iroquois in the sponge. The expression of this gene is highest in cells adjacent to the canals of the sponge in the medulla region. To study the expression of Iroquois during development, the in vitro primmorph…