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Platynereis dumerilii
Platynereis dumerilii is a species of annelid polychaete worm. It was originally placed into the genus Nereis and later reassigned to the genus Platynereis. Platynereis dumerilii lives in coastal marine waters from temperate to tropical zones. It can be found in a wide range from the Azores, the Mediterranean, in the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Atlantic down to the Cape of Good Hope, in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Japan, the Pacific, and the Kerguelen Islands. Platynereis dumerilii is today an important lab animal, it is considered a living fossil, and it is used in many phylogenetic studies as a model organism.
Platynereis dumerilii is a small marine ragworm: Males reach a length of 2 to 3 cm, while females reach a length of 3 to 4 cm. Like a number of invertebrate phyla, Platynereis dumerilii has an axochord, a paired longitudinal muscle that displays striking similarities to the notochord regarding position, developmental origin, and expression profile. Its early trochophore larva has a pair of the simplest eyes in the animal kingdom, each eye consists only of a photoreceptor cell and a pigment cell.
P. dumerilii worms have a ciliated surface which beats synchronously to drive locomotion and fluid flow. Larvae have segmental multiciliated cells that regularly display spontaneous coordinated ciliary arrests, which compose the ciliomotor circuitry in the worms. Whole-body coordination of ciliary locomotion is performed by a "stop-and-go pacemaker system".
As the worms develop, they use chaetae, and then parapodia, for locomotion. Unlike other polychaetes, in Platynereis larvae, the parapodia are used only for navigation while the cilia are responsible for propulsive force.
Platynereis dumerilii larvae possess two kinds of photoreceptor cells: Rhabdomeric and ciliary photoreceptor cells.
The ciliary photoreceptor cells are located in the deep brain of the larva. They are not shaded by pigment and thus perceive non-directional light. The ciliary photoreceptor cells resemble molecularly and morphologically the rods and cones of the human eye. Additional, they express an ciliary opsin that is more similar to the visual ciliary opsins of vertebrate rods and cones than to the visual rhabdomeric opsins of invertebrates. Therefore, it is thought that the urbilaterian, the last common ancestor of mollusks, arthropods, and vertebrates already had ciliary photoreceptor cells. The ciliary opsin is UV-sensitive (λmax = 383 nm), and the ciliary photoreceptor cells react on non-directional UV-light by making the larvae swimming down. This forms a ratio-chromatic depth-gauge with phototaxis of the rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells of the eyes.
A rhabdomeric photoreceptor cell forms with a pigment cell a simple eye. A pair of these eyes mediate phototaxis in the early Platynereis dumerilii trochophore larva. In the later nectochaete larva, phototaxis is mediated by the more complex adult eyes. The adult eyes express at least three opsins: Two rhabdomeric opsins and a Go-opsin. The three opsins there mediate phototaxis all the same way via depolarization, even so a scallop Go-opsin is known to hyperpolarize.
P. dumerilii senses chemicals with four types of organs: The antennae, the palps, the nuchal organs, and the tentacular cirri. These organs detect food and chemical cues such as alcohols, esters, amino acids, and sugars.
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Platynereis dumerilii
Platynereis dumerilii is a species of annelid polychaete worm. It was originally placed into the genus Nereis and later reassigned to the genus Platynereis. Platynereis dumerilii lives in coastal marine waters from temperate to tropical zones. It can be found in a wide range from the Azores, the Mediterranean, in the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Atlantic down to the Cape of Good Hope, in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Japan, the Pacific, and the Kerguelen Islands. Platynereis dumerilii is today an important lab animal, it is considered a living fossil, and it is used in many phylogenetic studies as a model organism.
Platynereis dumerilii is a small marine ragworm: Males reach a length of 2 to 3 cm, while females reach a length of 3 to 4 cm. Like a number of invertebrate phyla, Platynereis dumerilii has an axochord, a paired longitudinal muscle that displays striking similarities to the notochord regarding position, developmental origin, and expression profile. Its early trochophore larva has a pair of the simplest eyes in the animal kingdom, each eye consists only of a photoreceptor cell and a pigment cell.
P. dumerilii worms have a ciliated surface which beats synchronously to drive locomotion and fluid flow. Larvae have segmental multiciliated cells that regularly display spontaneous coordinated ciliary arrests, which compose the ciliomotor circuitry in the worms. Whole-body coordination of ciliary locomotion is performed by a "stop-and-go pacemaker system".
As the worms develop, they use chaetae, and then parapodia, for locomotion. Unlike other polychaetes, in Platynereis larvae, the parapodia are used only for navigation while the cilia are responsible for propulsive force.
Platynereis dumerilii larvae possess two kinds of photoreceptor cells: Rhabdomeric and ciliary photoreceptor cells.
The ciliary photoreceptor cells are located in the deep brain of the larva. They are not shaded by pigment and thus perceive non-directional light. The ciliary photoreceptor cells resemble molecularly and morphologically the rods and cones of the human eye. Additional, they express an ciliary opsin that is more similar to the visual ciliary opsins of vertebrate rods and cones than to the visual rhabdomeric opsins of invertebrates. Therefore, it is thought that the urbilaterian, the last common ancestor of mollusks, arthropods, and vertebrates already had ciliary photoreceptor cells. The ciliary opsin is UV-sensitive (λmax = 383 nm), and the ciliary photoreceptor cells react on non-directional UV-light by making the larvae swimming down. This forms a ratio-chromatic depth-gauge with phototaxis of the rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells of the eyes.
A rhabdomeric photoreceptor cell forms with a pigment cell a simple eye. A pair of these eyes mediate phototaxis in the early Platynereis dumerilii trochophore larva. In the later nectochaete larva, phototaxis is mediated by the more complex adult eyes. The adult eyes express at least three opsins: Two rhabdomeric opsins and a Go-opsin. The three opsins there mediate phototaxis all the same way via depolarization, even so a scallop Go-opsin is known to hyperpolarize.
P. dumerilii senses chemicals with four types of organs: The antennae, the palps, the nuchal organs, and the tentacular cirri. These organs detect food and chemical cues such as alcohols, esters, amino acids, and sugars.