Micro- and nanostructure of the adhesive material secreted by the tube feet of the sea star Asterias rubens

2008 ◽  
Vol 164 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Hennebert ◽  
Pascal Viville ◽  
Roberto Lazzaroni ◽  
Patrick Flammang
Keyword(s):  
Sea Star ◽  
Asterias Rubens ◽  
Adhesive Material ◽  
Tube Feet

A study of the temporary adhesion of the podia in the sea star asterias rubens (Echinodermata, asteroidea) through their footprints

1998 ◽  
Vol 201 (16) ◽  
pp. 2383-2395 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Flammang ◽  
A Michel ◽  
AV Cauwenberge ◽  
H Alexandre ◽  
M Jangoux
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Polyclonal Antibodies ◽  
Secretory Granules ◽  
Uronic Acids ◽  
Sea Star ◽  
Asterias Rubens ◽  
Sea Stars ◽  
Adhesive Material ◽  
Outermost Layer ◽  
Protein Moiety

Sea stars are able to make firm but temporary attachments to various substrata owing to secretions released by their podia. A duo-glandular model has been proposed in which an adhesive material is released by two types of non-ciliated secretory (NCS1 and NCS2) cells and a de-adhesive material is released by ciliated secretory (CS) cells. The chemical composition of these materials and the way in which they function have been investigated by studying the adhesive footprints left by the asteroids each time they adhere to a substratum. The footprints of Asterias rubens consist of a sponge-like material deposited as a thin layer on the substratum. Inorganic residues apart, this material is made up mainly of proteins and carbohydrates. The protein moiety contains significant amounts of both charged (especially acidic) and uncharged polar residues as well as half-cystine. The carbohydrate moiety is also acidic, comprising both uronic acids and sulphate groups. Polyclonal antibodies have been raised against footprint material and were used to locate the origin of footprint constituents in the podia. Extensive immunoreactivity was detected in the secretory granules of both NCS1 and NCS2 cells, suggesting that their secretions together make up the bulk of the adhesive material. No immunoreactivity was detected in the secretory granules of CS cells, and the only other structure strongly labelled was the outermost layer of the cuticle, the fuzzy coat. This pattern of immunoreactivity suggests that the secretions of CS cells are not incorporated into the footprints, but instead might function to jettison the fuzzy coat, thereby allowing the podium to detach.

scholarly journals Interspecies comparison of sea star adhesive proteins

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1784) ◽  
pp. 20190195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Lengerer ◽  
Morgane Algrain ◽  
Mathilde Lefevre ◽  
Jérôme Delroisse ◽  
Elise Hennebert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Potential Surface ◽  
Secretory Cells ◽  
Sea Star ◽  
Surface Binding ◽  
Sea Stars ◽  
Adhesive Material ◽  
High Conservation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Adhesive Proteins ◽  
Tube Feet

Sea stars use adhesive secretions to attach their numerous tube feet strongly and temporarily to diverse surfaces. After detachment of the tube feet, the adhesive material stays bound to the substrate as so-called ‘footprints’. In the common sea star species Asterias rubens , the adhesive material has been studied extensively and the first sea star footprint protein (Sfp1) has been characterized. We identified Sfp1-like sequences in 17 additional sea star species, representing different taxa and tube foot morphologies, and analysed the evolutionary conservation of this protein. In A. rubens , we confirmed the expression of 34 footprint proteins in the tube foot adhesive epidermis, with 22 being exclusively expressed in secretory cells of the adhesive epidermis and 12 showing an additional expression in the stem epidermis. The sequences were used for BLAST searches in seven asteroid transcriptomes providing a first insight in the conservation of footprint proteins among sea stars. Our results highlighted a high conservation of the large proteins making up the structural core of the footprints, whereas smaller, potential surface-binding proteins might be more variable among sea star species. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Transdisciplinary approaches to the study of adhesion and adhesives in biological systems’.

The Activities of the Tube Feet of Asterias Rubens L

1947 ◽  
Vol s3-88 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
J. E. SMITH
Keyword(s):  
Forward Direction ◽  
The Other ◽  
Asterias Rubens ◽  
Ideal Form ◽  
First Time ◽  
Intrinsic Musculature ◽  
Tube Feet ◽  
Postural Muscles ◽  
The Ideal

1. An account is given of the muscular anatomy of the foot and ampulla of Asterias rubens. An intrinsic musculature of the sucker figured by Cuénot (1891) and Chadwick (1923) is shown not to be present; on the other hand, postural muscles responsible for orientating the podium, levator fibres which ‘cup’ the sucker, and radial fibres which flatten it are described and figured for the first time. 2. The role of the different muscle systems, the collagen connective tissue, and the fluid of the hydrocoel in protracting and retracting the foot, and in effecting the attachment and detachment of the sucker, is discussed. 3. Evidence is presented, to show that postural pointing of the foot is brought about by the contraction of a ring of muscles encircling the base of the podium. The orienting muscles are functionally, but not anatomically, distinct from the longitudinal fibres of the retractor sheath. 4. The ambulatory step is shown to comprise a series of linked phases of static posture and of movement. Each phase is characterized by the contraction of one member of each of the two opposing pairs of muscles engaged in the development of the step. The two pairs of muscles are (1) the anterior and posterior orienting fibres, and (2) the protractors and retractors of the foot. In its ideal form the step comprises four phases of static posture alternating with four movements. Each movement is ushered in by a reversal of the contraction-relaxation relationships of one of the two pairs of opposing muscle systems. Four such changes are possible and they occur in a sequence that ensures the orderly succession of the four movements of protraction, swing back, retraction, and swing forward, of which movements the idealized stepping cycle is composed. 5. The actual locomotory step departs from the ideal form in two respects: (1) it is liable to become disrupted by a delay in the initiation of the protraction or of the backswing movement, and (2) withdrawal of the podium occurs simultaneously with its re-orientation in the forward direction. It is pointed out that these variations are explicable on the assumption that, in the two series of opposing muscle pairs, the retractor fibres are more readily excited to contract than are their antagonists, and the anterior postural muscles than the posterior postural fibres.

scholarly journals The Histology and Activities of the Tube-feet of Echinocyamus pusillus

1959 ◽  
Vol s3-100 (52) ◽  
pp. 539-555
Author(s):  
DAVID NICHOLS
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Nerve Plexus ◽  
Asterias Rubens ◽  
Coelomic Epithelium ◽  
Sensory Cilia ◽  
Thin Walled ◽  
Postural Movement ◽  
Tube Feet

The histology of the suckered, buccal sensory, and respiratory tube-feet and their ampullae, where they occur, of the clypeasteroid sea-urchin Echinocyamus pusillus is described. Each suckered tube-foot possesses two sets of special muscles for attachment and detachment, a ring of mucous glands to assist in attachment, and a ring of sensory cilia. The stem retractors are in four columns, whose differential contraction provides the means of postural movement relative to the test. The ampullae of these tube-feet are exceedingly thin-walled, apparently musculo-epithelial, with anastomosing contractile elements. The canal between tube-foot and ampulla contains a swollen coelomic epithelium which may help to maintain the nerve relationships of the system. The activity of the suckered tube-feet is compared with that of the tubefeet of the starfish, Asterias rubens. The buccal tube-feet, larger than the suckered tube-feet, have large disks underlain by a thick nerve plexus supported by transverse fibres; a ring of sensory cilia surrounds the disk. They have no mucous glands and no suckers, and are presumably entirely sensory, probably both tactile (the cilia) and chemoreceptive (the disk). The respiratory tube-feet are thin-walled sacs, the walls consisting of an outer ciliated and an inner non-ciliated (coelomic) epithelium with cross-connexions for support; where the coelomic epithelium lines the pair of canals through the test it is heavily ciliated. In the specializations of its tube-feet this urchin is shown to share some features with the regular urchins and others with the spatangoids.

Distribution and action of SALMFamide neuropeptides in the starfish Asterias rubens.

1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (12) ◽  
pp. 2519-2525 ◽  
Author(s):  
M R Elphick ◽  
S J Newman ◽  
M C Thorndyke
Keyword(s):  
Specific Antiserum ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Pharmacological Effects ◽  
Asterias Rubens ◽  
Terminal Amino Acid ◽  
Cardiac Stomach ◽  
Terminal Amino ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Tube Feet ◽  
Terminal Amino Acid Sequence

The SALMFamides S1 and S2 are two structurally related neuropeptides that are present in starfish, and which share the C-terminal amino acid sequence SXLXFamide, where X is variable. To establish the distribution of S1 and S2 in starfish, we have raised antisera that recognise specifically the C-terminal pentapeptide sequence of either S1 or S2. Here we describe the production and characterisation of an S2-specific antiserum designated CLII. This antiserum, together with an S1-specific antiserum (BLII), has been used in a radioimmunoassay to measure S1 and S2 levels in extracts of body parts from the starfish Asterias rubens. High concentrations (250-400 pmol g-1) of both peptides were detected in the radial nerve cords of the nervous system and lower concentrations were detected in other body parts, including neuromuscular organs such as the tube feet, apical muscle and cardiac stomach. We have examined the pharmacological effects of S1 and S2 on the contractility of these three preparations. Neither S1 nor S2 influenced the tone of tube foot and apical muscle preparations but S2 caused relaxation of cardiac stomach preparations, antagonising the contracting action of acetylcholine.

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