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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Toxic effects of bisphenol A on sexual and asexual reproduction in Hydra oligactis.

Hydra oligactis, an evolutionarily primitive invertebrate, produced eggs or testes (sexual reproduction) when starved at 10 degrees C, and produced buds (asexual reproduction) when fed at 20 degrees C. Bisphenol A (BPA) at 2-4 mg/L given to male or female hydra had adverse effects on both sexual and asexual reproduction. Despite the estrogenic nature of BPA, testis formation and egg formation were similarly affected. The doses causing these acute toxicities were comparable to those reported earlier in aquatic invertebrates and were much higher than environmentally detected doses, at which the disruption of the endocrine system has been reported in fishes. All these facts indicate that the adverse effects are the results of general toxicity and may not be due to the estrogenic function of the compound. On the other hand, we found that BPA at 1 mg/L (a dose still much higher than environmental doses) stimulated asexual reproduction. No such stimulation of sexual reproduction was seen. When male hydras were fed at 10 degrees C, they produced both buds and testes simultaneously. BPA at 0.5 and 1 mg/L under this condition also stimulated asexual reproduction, whereas it suppressed sexual reproduction more severely than BPA at 2-3 mg/L. There may be some interaction between processes involved in sexual and asexual reproduction under this condition, and the stimulation of asexual reproduction by BPA may cause suppression of sexual reproduction.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Regulation of asexual reproduction in the planarian Dugesia tigrina].

We studied asexual reproduction of planarians under the natural and artificial photoperiodic conditions. It was shown that light inhibits the fission of planarians, while darkness stimulates it. The diurnal dynamics of the fission of planarians demonstrated a circadian rhythm. This rhythm is stable, which is expressed when the conditions are experimentally changed: constant darkness, unnatural rhythm of light-darkness succession). However, this stability is affected at the time zone change. The planarians are adapted to new conditions and begin to fission at once in correspondence with the new diurnal regime.

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PubMed2000

Morphogenesis during asexual reproduction in Pygospio elegans Claparede (Annelida, Polychaeta).

The spionid Pygospio elegans reproduces both asexually and sexually. Using scanning electron and bright field microscopy, we examined morphogenesis following asexual reproduction to determine how "lost" body regions were regenerated after a worm spontaneously divided. Asexual reproduction occurred through transverse fission and divided the parent worm into 2 to 6 fragments (architomy). All fragments retained their original anterior-posterior polarity. Regeneration in all fragments followed a specific series of events: wound healing (day 1); extension of the blastema to generate lost body regions-specifically, the head and thorax for posterior fragments and the tail and pygidium for anterior fragments (days 2-3); segmentation (days 3-6); and differentiation of segment- or region-specific structures (days 4-8). This pattern occurred regardless of where the original division took place. Subsequent growth occurred through addition of terminal setigers anterior to the pygidium followed by differentiation of tail setigers into abdominal setigers, leaving the tail region about 6 to 10 setigers in size. Division rates were compared in worms from three populations in Nova Scotia, Canada. Worms from two populations (Conrad's Beach, Starr's Point) divided more frequently (about 1.2 and 1.3 weeks between divisions, respectively) than worms from Bon Portage Island (3.5 weeks between divisions). Fragments containing the original head (original mouth intact, generally much larger fragment) had a higher survivorship than fragments containing the original tail.

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PubMed2003

Asexual reproduction and molecular systematics of the sea anemone Anthopleura krebsi (Actiniaria: Actiniidae).

In this paper we use allozyme analyses to demonstrate that individuals in Anthopleura krebsi aggregates are monoclonal. Additionally, sympatric samples of the red and the green colour-morphs of A. krebsi from Pernambuco, Brazil were genetically compared and no significant differences were observed between them (gene identity = 0.992), indicating that they do not belong to different biological species. All individuals within aggregates of the green colour-morph were found to be identical over the five polymorphic loci analysed. Such results would be extremely unlikely (P < 10(-11)) if the individuals analysed had been generated through sexual reproduction, thus confirming the presence of asexual reproduction in this species.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Asexual reproduction in Pygospio elegans claparède (Annelida, Polychaeta) in relation to parasitism by Lepocreadium setiferoides (Miller and Northup) (Platyhelminthes, Trematoda).

Life-history theory predicts that parasitized hosts should alter their investment in reproduction in ways that maximize host reproductive success. I examined the timing of asexual reproduction (fragmentation and regeneration) in the polychaete annelid Pygospio elegans experimentally exposed to cercariae of the trematode Lepocreadium setiferoides. Consistent with adaptive host response, polychaetes that became infected by metacercariae of trematodes fragmented sooner than unexposed controls. Parasites were not directly associated with fission in that exposed polychaetes that did not become infected also fragmented earlier than controls. For specimens of P. elegans that were not exposed to trematodes, new fragments that contained original heads were larger than those that contained original tails, whereas original head and tail fragments did not differ in size for infected polychaetes. In infected specimens, metacercariae were equally represented in original head and tail fragments and were more likely to be found in whichever fragment was larger. Despite early reproduction, parasitism was still costly because populations of P. elegans exposed to parasites were smaller than controls when measured 8 weeks later and because exposure to cercariae reduced survivorship of newly divided polychaetes. Taken together, my results suggest that early fragmentation is a host response to minimize costs associated with parasitism.

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PubMed2025

Investigating the Functions of Hox Genes Using Planarian Asexual Reproduction.

Hox genes are highly conserved developmental regulators instrumental to the formation of a wide range of diverse body plans across metazoans. While significant progress in the field of Hox gene research has been made, persistent challenges in unraveling their mechanisms of action and full repertoire of functions remain. To date, investigations of Hox gene function have been primarily conducted in research models belonging to ecdysozoa and vertebrata. Herein we summarize recent findings on Hox genes' roles in the asexual reproduction of the regenerative flatworm planaria, a member of the understudied superphylum Spiralia. We detail our optimized methods for planarian culture, gene perturbation, and induction of asexual reproduction. We aim to provide an experimentally tractable means to dissect Hox gene adult tissue functions underlying planarian asexual reproduction with broader relevance to Hox genes' established and emerging roles in regulating cellular behaviors, developmental patterning, animal behavior, and tissue regeneration.

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PubMed1999

Cell adhesion in the process of asexual reproduction of tunicates.

Cell adhesion during budding of tunicates is reviewed from the viewpoints of histology, cytology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Two kinds of multipotent cells play important roles in bud formation and development: epithelial cells, such as the atrial epithelium of botryllids and polystyelids, and mesenchymal cells, referred to as haemoblasts. Haemoblasts are able to aggregate to form a solid mass of cells, which soon becomes a hollow vesicle. The vesicular epithelium has junctional complexes that contain adherens junctions, and, sometimes, tight junctions; both occur apicolaterally on the plasma membrane. The hollow vesicle develops into the heart, the pyloric gland and duct, the gonad, including germ cells, and even the multipotent epithelium of buds. Cell culture studies suggest that multipotent epithelial cells may be interchangeable with haemoblasts. Several kinds of calcium-dependent, galactose-binding tunicate lectins (TC-14s) have been isolated and sequenced, and have been found to facilitate both in vivo and in vitro cell aggregation and migration. Tunicate homologs of cadherin and integrin genes have recently been isolated from Botryllus and Polyandrocarpa, respectively. Their unique molecular characteristics are discussed in the context of roles that they play in cell adhesion in the process of tunicate budding.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Stomatogenesis during sexual and asexual reproduction in an amicronucleate strain of Paramecium caudatum.

Amicronucleate cells of Paramecium caudatum, whose micronuclei have been artifically removed by micropipetting, are characterized by the appearance of a deciliated area at the posterior part of the buccal opening. These cells form food vacuoles at a slightly lower rate than micronucleate cells. Their mean interfission time is longer than that in micronucleates. The exconjugants of amicronucleate cells can not form food vacuoles and eventually die witout fission, though conjugation proceeds normally in them as well as in their micronucleate mate. The oral apparatus of amicronucleate exconjugants seems to be shallower than that of micronucleates. The membranellar cilia, therefore, can be seen through the buccal overture by scanning electron microscope. The results obtained from the cross of micronucleate and amicronucleate strains and from the induction of autogamy in amicronucleate strains suggest that the micronucleus has a primary role in developing the normal oral apparatus after nuclear reorganization.

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PubMed1994

A multiple fission-like mode of asexual reproduction in Blastocystis hominis.

A non-axenic and an axenic isolate of Blastocystis hominis have been induced to form cysts in vitro using an encystation medium. The morphology of the parasite at different time points was observed by scanning electron microscopy. In day-2 cultures the cysts were spherical and had a non-uniform, coarse outer surface around the body. A deep, pore-like opening was seen in some of the parasites. Most of the cysts from day-4 and day-6 cultures ruptured, revealing small, uniformly sized spherical bodies occurring in grape-like clusters. Acridine orange staining confirmed that these bodies were the progeny of Blastocystis hominis. A multiple fission-like reproduction process giving rise to many daughter Blastocystis occurs within the cyst.

Acridine Orange↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Dependence of effects of weak combined low-frequency variable and constant magnetic fields on the intensity of asexual reproduction of planarians Dugesia tigrina on the magnitude of the variable field].

It was shown that the stimulating effect of weak combined magnetic fields (constant component 42 microT, frequency of the variable component 3.7 Hz) on the division of planarians depends on the amplitude of the variable component of the field. The effect is particularly pronounced at 40 (the main maximum), 120, 160, and 640 nT. Narrow ranges of effective amplitudes alternate in some cases with equally narrow ranges in which the system does not respond to he treatment. In the range of super weak amplitudes of the variable field (0.1 and 1 nT), the stimulating effect is poorly pronounced. The data obtained indicate the presence of narrow amplitude windows in the response of the biological systems to weak and super weak magnetic fields. In a special series of experiments, it was shown that the effect of fields on planarians is partially mediated via aqueous medium preliminarily treated with weak magnetic fields. It is noteworthy that in experiments with water treated with weak magnetic fields, there were no pronounced maxima and minima in the magnitude of the effect in the range of amplitude of the variable magnetic field from 40 to 320 nT.

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