Deuterostomes | |
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Diversity of deuterostomes | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Clade: | ParaHoxozoa |
Clade: | Bilateria |
Clade: | Nephrozoa |
Superphylum: | Deuterostomia Grobben, 1908 |
Clades | |
Deuterostomes (from Greek: lit. 'mouth second') are bilaterian animals of the superphylum Deuterostomia ( /ˌdjuːtərəˈstoʊmi.ə/ ), [3] [4] typically characterized by their anus forming before the mouth during embryonic development. Deuterostomia is further divided into 4 phyla: Chordata, Echinodermata, Hemichordata, and the extinct Vetulicolia known from Cambrian fossils. The extinct clade Cambroernida is also thought to be a member of Deuterostomia.
In deuterostomy, the developing embryo's first opening (the blastopore) becomes the anus and cloaca, while the mouth is formed at a different site later on. This was initially the group's distinguishing characteristic, but deuterostomy has since been discovered among protostomes as well. [5] This group is also known as enterocoelomates, because their coelom develops through enterocoely.
Deuterostomia's sister clade is Protostomia, animals that develop mouth first and whose digestive tract development is more varied. Protostomia includes the ecdysozoans (panarthropods, nematoids, penis worms, mud dragons etc.) and spiralians (mollusks, annelids, flatworms, rotifers, arrow worms, etc.), as well as the extinct Kimberella . Together with Protostomia and their outgroup Xenacoelomorpha, they constitute the large infrakingdom Bilateria, i.e. animals with bilateral symmetry and three germ layers.
Initially, Deuterostomia included the phyla Brachiopoda, [6] Bryozoa, [7] Chaetognatha, [8] and Phoronida [6] based on morphological and embryological characteristics. However, Deuterostomia was redefined in 1995 based on DNA molecular sequence analyses, leading to the removal of the lophophorates which was later combined with other protostome animals to form the superphylum Lophotrochozoa. [9] The arrow worms may also be deuterostomes, [8] but molecular studies have placed them in the protostomes more often. [10] [11] Genetic studies have also revealed that deuterostomes have more than 30 genes not found in any other animal groups, but which yet are present in some marine algae and prokaryotes. This could mean they are very ancient genes that were lost in other organisms, or that a common ancestor acquired them through horizontal gene transfer. [12]
While protostomes as a monophyletic group has strong support, research has shown that deuterostomes may be paraphyletic, and what was once considered traits of deuterostomes could instead be traits of the last common bilaterian ancestor. This suggests the deuterostome branch is very short or non-existent. The Xenambulacraria's sister group could be both the chordates or the protostomes, or be equally distantly related to them both. [13]
This is the generally agreed upon phylogeny of the deuterostomes:
There is a possibility that Ambulacraria is the sister clade to Xenacoelomorpha, and could form the Xenambulacraria group. [14] [15] [16]
In both deuterostomes and protostomes, a zygote first develops into a hollow ball of cells, called a blastula. In deuterostomes, the early divisions occur parallel or perpendicular to the polar axis. This is called radial cleavage, and also occurs in certain protostomes, such as the lophophorates.
Most deuterostomes display indeterminate cleavage, in which the developmental fate of the cells in the developing embryo is not determined by the identity of the parent cell. Thus, if the first four cells are separated, each can develop into a complete small larva; and if a cell is removed from the blastula, the other cells will compensate.
In deuterostomes the mesoderm forms as evaginations of the developed gut that pinch off to form the coelom. This process is called enterocoely.
Another feature present in both the Hemichordata and Chordata is pharyngotremy; the presence of spiracles or gill slits into the pharynx, which is also found in some primitive fossil echinoderms (mitrates). [17] [18] A hollow nerve cord is found in all chordates, including tunicates (in the larval stage). Some hemichordates also have a tubular nerve cord. In the early embryonic stage, it looks like the hollow nerve cord of chordates.
Except for the echinoderms, both the hemichordates and the chordates have a thickening of the aorta, homologous to the chordate heart, which contracts to pump blood. This suggests a presence in the deuterostome ancestor of the three groups, with the echinoderms having secondarily lost it.[ citation needed ]
The highly modified nervous system of echinoderms obscures much about their ancestry, but several facts suggest that all present deuterostomes evolved from a common ancestor that had pharyngeal gill slits, a hollow nerve cord, circular and longitudinal muscles and a segmented body. [19]
The defining characteristic of the deuterostome is the fact that the blastopore (the opening at the bottom of the forming gastrula) becomes the anus, whereas in protostomes the blastopore becomes the mouth. The deuterostome mouth develops at the opposite end of the embryo, from the blastopore, and a digestive tract develops in the middle, connecting the two.
In many animals, these early development stages later evolved in ways that no longer reflect these original patterns. For instance, humans have already formed a gut tube at the time of formation of the mouth and anus. Then the mouth forms first[ citation needed ], during the fourth week of development, and the anus forms four weeks later, temporarily forming a cloaca.
Bilateria, one of the five major lineages of animals, is split into two groups; the protostomes and deuterostomes. Deuterostomes consist of chordates (which include the vertebrates) and ambulacrarians. [20] It seems likely that the 555 million year old Kimberella was a member of the protostomes. [21] [22] That implies that the protostome and deuterostome lineages split some time before Kimberella appeared — at least 558 million years ago, and hence well before the start of the Cambrian 538.8 million years ago, [20] i.e. during the later part of the Ediacaran Period (circa 635-539 Mya, around the end of global Marinoan glaciation in the late Neoproterozoic). It has been proposed that the ancestral deuterostome, before the chordate/ambulacrarian split, could have been a chordate-like animal with a terminal anus and pharyngeal openings but no gill slits, with active suspension feeding strategy. [23]
The last common ancestor of the deuterostomes had lost all innexin diversity. [24]
Fossils of one major deuterostome group, the echinoderms (whose modern members include sea stars, sea urchins and crinoids), are quite common from the start of Series 2 of the Cambrian, 521 million years ago. [25] The Mid Cambrian fossil Rhabdotubus johanssoni has been interpreted as a pterobranch hemichordate. [26] Opinions differ about whether the Chengjiang fauna fossil Yunnanozoon , from the earlier Cambrian, was a hemichordate or chordate. [27] [28] Another Chengjiang fossil, Haikouella lanceolata , is interpreted as a chordate and possibly a craniate, as it shows signs of a heart, arteries, gill filaments, a tail, a neural chord with a brain at the front end, and possibly eyes — although it also had short tentacles round its mouth. [28] Haikouichthys and Myllokunmingia , also from the Chengjiang fauna, are regarded as fish. [29] [30] Pikaia , discovered much earlier but from the Mid Cambrian Burgess Shale, is also regarded as a primitive chordate. [31]
On the other hand, fossils of early chordates are very rare, as non-vertebrate chordates have no bone tissue or teeth, and fossils of no Post-Cambrian non-vertebrate chordates are known aside from the Permian-aged Paleobranchiostoma , trace fossils of the Ordovician colonial tunicate Catellocaula, and various Jurassic-aged and Tertiary-aged spicules tentatively attributed to ascidians.
Below is a phylogenetic tree showing consensus relationships among deuterostome taxa. Phylogenomic evidence suggests the enteropneust family, Torquaratoridae, fall within the Ptychoderidae. The tree is based on 16S +18S rRNA sequence data and phylogenomic studies from multiple sources. [32] [13] The approximate dates for each radiation into a new clade are given in millions of years ago (Mya). Not all dates are consistent, as of date ranges only the center is given. [33]
Bilateria |
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Support for the clade Deuterostomia is not unequivocal. In particular, the Ambulacraria are sometimes shown to be related to the Xenacoelomorpha. If true, this raises two possibilities: either the Ambulacraria are taken out of the deuterostome-protostome dichotomy (in which case the grouping Deuterostomia dissolves, with Chordata and Protostomia grouped together as Centroneuralia), or the Xenacoelomorpha are re-positioned next to Ambulacraria within the Deuterostomia as in the above diagram. [13] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]
Deuterostomes have a rich fossil record with thousands of fossil species being found throughout the Phanerozoic. The earliest undisputed deuterostomes are forms such as the early chordate Pikaia and the early echinoderm Gogia , each from about 515 million years ago. There are also a few earlier fossils that may represent deuterostomes, but these remain debated. The earliest of these disputed fossils are the tunicate-like organisms Finkoella and Ausia from the Ediacaran period. While these may in fact be tunicates, others have interpreted them as cnidarians [41] or sponges, [42] and as such their true affinity remains uncertain.
A chordate is a deuterostomic animal belonging to the phylum Chordata. All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five distinctive physical characteristics (synapomorphies) that distinguish them from other taxa. These five synapomorphies are a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, an endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. The name "chordate" comes from the first of these synapomorphies, the notochord, which plays a significant role in chordate body plan structuring and movements. Chordates are also bilaterally symmetric, have a coelom, possess a closed circulatory system, and exhibit metameric segmentation.
Hemichordata is a phylum which consists of triploblastic, enterocoelomate, and bilaterally symmetrical marine deuterostome animals, generally considered the sister group of the echinoderms. They appear in the Lower or Middle Cambrian and include two main classes: Enteropneusta, and Pterobranchia. A third class, Planctosphaeroidea, is known only from the larva of a single species, Planctosphaera pelagica. The class Graptolithina, formerly considered extinct, is now placed within the pterobranchs, represented by a single living genus Rhabdopleura.
Vetulicolia is a phylum of bilaterian animals encompassing several extinct species belonging to the Cambrian period. The phylum was created by Degan Shu and his research team in 2001, and named after Vetulicola cuneata, the first species of the phylum described in 1987.
Bilateria is a large clade or infrakingdom of animals called bilaterians, characterized by bilateral symmetry during embryonic development. This means their body plans are laid around a longitudinal axis with a front and a rear end, as well as a left–right–symmetrical belly (ventral) and back (dorsal) surface. Nearly all bilaterians maintain a bilaterally symmetrical body as adults; the most notable exception is the echinoderms, which extend to pentaradial symmetry as adults, but are only bilaterally symmetrical as an embryo. Cephalization is also a characteristic feature among most bilaterians, where the special sense organs and central nerve ganglia become concentrated at the front/rostral end.
Xenoturbella is a genus of very simple bilaterians up to a few centimeters long. It contains a small number of marine benthic worm-like species.
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor.
Ambulacraria, or Coelomopora, is a clade of invertebrate phyla that includes echinoderms and hemichordates; a member of this group is called an ambulacrarian. Phylogenetic analysis suggests the echinoderms and hemichordates separated around 533 million years ago. The Ambulacraria are part of the deuterostomes, a clade that also includes the many Chordata, and the few extinct species belonging to the Vetulicolia.
Mitrates are an extinct group of stem group echinoderms, which may be closely related to the hemichordates. Along with the cornutes, they form one half of the Stylophora.
Protostomia is the clade of animals once thought to be characterized by the formation of the organism's mouth before its anus during embryonic development. This nature has since been discovered to be extremely variable among Protostomia's members, although the reverse is typically true of its sister clade, Deuterostomia. Well known examples of protostomes are arthropods, molluscs, annelids, flatworms and nematodes. They are also called schizocoelomates since schizocoely typically occurs in them.
The embryological origin of the mouth and anus is an important characteristic, and forms the morphological basis for separating bilaterian animals into two natural groupings: the protostomes and deuterostomes.
In evolutionary developmental biology, inversion refers to the hypothesis that during the course of animal evolution, the structures along the dorsoventral (DV) axis have taken on an orientation opposite that of the ancestral form.
Ooedigera peeli is an extinct vetulicolian from the Early Cambrian of North Greenland. The front body was flattened horizontally, oval-shaped, likely bearing a reticulated or anastomosing pattern, and had 5 evenly-spaced gill pouches along the midline. The tail was also bulbous and flattened horizontally, but was divided into 7 plates connected by flexible membranes, allowing movement. Ooedigera likely swam by moving side-to-side like a fish. It may have lived in an oxygen minimum zone alongside several predators in an ecosystem based on chemosynthetic microbial mats, and was possibly a deposit or filter feeder living near the seafloor.
Xenacoelomorpha is a small phylum of bilaterian invertebrate animals, consisting of two sister groups: xenoturbellids and acoelomorphs. This new phylum was named in February 2011 and suggested based on morphological synapomorphies, which was then confirmed by phylogenomic analyses of molecular data.
Cincta is an extinct class of echinoderms that lived only in the Middle Cambrian epoch. Homostelea is a junior synonym. The classification of cinctans is controversial, but they are probably part of the echinoderm stem group.
Saccorhytus is an extinct genus of animal possibly belonging to the superphylum Ecdysozoa, and it is represented by a single species, Saccorhytus coronarius. The organism lived approximately 540 million years ago in the beginning of the Cambrian period. Initially proposed as a deuterostome, which would make it the oldest known species of this superphylum, it has since been determined to belong to a protostome group called the ecdysozoans.
Xenoturbella bocki is a marine benthic worm-like species from the genus Xenoturbella. It is found in saltwater sea floor habitats off the coast of Europe, predominantly Sweden. It was the first species in the genus discovered. Initially it was collected by Swedish zoologist Sixten Bock in 1915, and described in 1949 by Swedish zoologist Einar Westblad. The unusual digestive structure of this species, in which a single opening is used to eat food and excrete waste, has led to considerable study and controversy as to its classification. It is a bottom-dwelling, burrowing carnivore that eats mollusks.
Xenambulacraria is a proposed clade of animals with bilateral symmetry as an embryo, consisting of the Xenacoelomorpha and the Ambulacraria.
Ctenocystoidea is an extinct clade of echinoderms, which lived during the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. Unlike other echinoderms, ctenocystoids had bilateral symmetry, or were only very slightly asymmetrical. They are believed to be one of the earliest-diverging branches of echinoderms, with their bilateral symmetry a trait shared with other deuterostomes. Ctenocystoids were once classified in the taxon Homalozoa, also known as Carpoidea, alongside cinctans, solutes, and stylophorans. Homalozoa is now recognized as a polyphyletic group of echinoderms without radial symmetry. Ctenocystoids were geographically widespread during the Middle Cambrian, with one species surviving into the Late Ordovician.
Yanjiahella biscarpa is an extinct species of Ediacaran and Early Cambrian deuterostome which may represent the earliest stem group echinoderm.
Centroneuralia is a proposed clade of animals with bilateral symmetry as an embryo, consisting of the Chordata and Protostomia, united by the presence of a central nervous system. An alternative to the traditional protostome-deuterostome dichotomy, it has found weak support in several studies. Under this hypothesis, Centroneuralia would be sister to Xenambulacraria at the base of Bilateria.