The ability of calcareous sponges (Calcarea, Porifera) to develop from dissociated cells

• Main Authors: Frolova, Veronika S., Lavrov, Andrey I.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: F1000 Research Limited 2018
• Subjects: White Sea
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7490/f1000research.1116326.1; https://f1000research.com/posters/7-1874

Sponges are the most ancient aquatic multicellular animals, which can be characterized by the peculiar histological structure, which causes high plasticity and mobility of the cellular elements of the sponges. One of the forms of manifestation of such plasticity is cell reaggregation – the ability of sponges to recover from dissociated cells. The aim of this study was to analyze the process of reaggregation in calcareous sponges (Porifera, Calcarea) of the White Sea: Leucosolenia cf. variabilis, Sycon sp., Sycettusa murmanensis and Clathrina arnesenae. The process of reaggregation occurs in a similarly in all the species studied. At 24 hours after dissociation, the formation of primary multicellular aggregates was observed in cultures. Primary aggregates have a round or irregular shape and are characterized by loose packing of cells. After 72-96 hours early primmorphs form in cultures. They have a rounded shape with more even surface. Cells in the early primmorphs are packed denser than in primary aggregates. This stage is final in the process of reaggregation in the species studied. Rearrangements and transdifferentiation of cells were observed throughout the reaggregation process. During this study the methods of obtaining and cultivating multicellular aggregates of calcareous sponges were elaborated, and optimal conditions for cultivation were determined for some species. A primary description of the structure of aggregates and cell transformations during the reaggregation at histological and ultrastructural levels was carried. Financial support by the Russian Science Foundation n° 17-14-01089 is gratefully acknowledged.