Complex Organization in Multicellularity as a Necessity in Evolution

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chikara Furusawa ◽  
Kunihiko Kaneko

By introducing a dynamical system model of a multicellular system, it is shown that an organism with a variety of differentiated cell types and a complex pattern emerges through cell-cell interactions even without postulating any elaborate control mechanism. Such an organism is found to maintain a larger growth speed as an ensemble, by achieving a cooperative use of resources, than do simple homogeneous cells, which behave “selfishly.” This suggests that the emergence of multicellular organisms with complex organization is a necessity in evolution. According to our theoretical model, there initially appear multipotent stem cells, which undergo stochastic differentiation to other cell types. With development and differentiation, both the chemical diversity and the complexity of intra-cellular dynamics are decreased, as a general consequence of our system. Robustness of the developmental process is also confirmed.

Acta Naturae ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. V. Elizar’ev ◽  
D. V. Lomaev ◽  
D. A. Chetverina ◽  
P. G. Georgiev ◽  
M. M. Erokhin

Maintenance of the individual patterns of gene expression in different cell types is required for the differentiation and development of multicellular organisms. Expression of many genes is controlled by Polycomb (PcG) and Trithorax (TrxG) group proteins that act through association with chromatin. PcG/TrxG are assembled on the DNA sequences termed PREs (Polycomb Response Elements), the activity of which can be modulated and switched from repression to activation. In this study, we analyzed the influence of transcriptional read-through on PRE activity switch mediated by the yeast activator GAL4. We show that a transcription terminator inserted between the promoter and PRE doesnt prevent switching of PRE activity from repression to activation. We demonstrate that, independently of PRE orientation, high levels of transcription fail to dislodge PcG/TrxG proteins from PRE in the absence of a terminator. Thus, transcription is not the main factor required for PRE activity switch.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5597
Author(s):  
Vítězslav Plocek ◽  
Kristýna Fadrhonc ◽  
Jana Maršíková ◽  
Libuše Váchová ◽  
Alexandra Pokorná ◽  
...  

During development of yeast colonies, various cell subpopulations form, which differ in their properties and specifically localize within the structure. Three branches of mitochondrial retrograde (RTG) signaling play a role in colony development and differentiation, each of them activating the production of specific markers in different cell types. Here, aiming to identify proteins and processes controlled by the RTG pathway, we analyzed proteomes of individual cell subpopulations from colonies of strains, mutated in genes of the RTG pathway. Resulting data, along with microscopic analyses revealed that the RTG pathway predominantly regulates processes in U cells, long-lived cells with unique properties, which are localized in upper colony regions. Rtg proteins therein activate processes leading to amino acid biosynthesis, including transport of metabolic intermediates between compartments, but also repress expression of mitochondrial ribosome components, thus possibly contributing to reduced mitochondrial translation in U cells. The results reveal the RTG pathway’s role in activating metabolic processes, important in U cell adaptation to altered nutritional conditions. They also point to the important role of Rtg regulators in repressing mitochondrial activity in U cells.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengguang Wu ◽  
Long Chen ◽  
Yi-zhou Huang ◽  
Yongcan Huang ◽  
Ornella Parolini ◽  
...  

Human multipotent stem cell-based therapies have shown remarkable potential in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering applications due to their abilities of self-renewal and differentiation into multiple adult cell types under appropriate conditions. Presently, human multipotent stem cells can be isolated from different sources, but variation among their basic biology can result in suboptimal selection of seed cells in preclinical and clinical research. Thus, the goal of this study was to compare the biological characteristics of multipotent stem cells isolated from human bone marrow, placental decidua basalis, and urine, respectively. First, we found that urine-derived stem cells (USCs) displayed different morphologies compared with other stem cell types. USCs and placenta decidua basalis-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PDB-MSCs) had superior proliferation ability in contrast to bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs); these cells grew to have the highest colony-forming unit (CFU) counts. In phenotypic analysis using flow cytometry, similarity among all stem cell marker expression was found, excluding CD29 and CD105. Regarding stem cell differentiation capability, USCs were observed to have better adipogenic and endothelial abilities as well as vascularization potential compared to BMSCs and PDB-MSCs. As for osteogenic and chondrogenic induction, BMSCs were superior to all three stem cell types. Future therapeutic indications and clinical applications of BMSCs, PDB-MSCs, and USCs should be based on their characteristics, such as growth kinetics and differentiation capabilities.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e2878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhan Aslan ◽  
Nurçin Küçükoğlu ◽  
Muhittin Arslanyolu

Autophagy serves as a turnover mechanism for the recycling of redundant and/or damaged macromolecules present in eukaryotic cells to re-use them under starvation conditions via a double-membrane structure known as autophagosome. A set of eukaryotic genes called autophagy-related genes (ATGs) orchestrate this highly elaborative process. The existence of these genes and the role they play in different eukaryotes are well-characterized. However, little is known of their role in some eukaryotes such as ciliates. Here, we report the computational analyses of ATG genes in five ciliate genomes to understand their diversity. Our results show that Oxytricha trifallax is the sole ciliate which has a conserved Atg12 conjugation system (Atg5-Atg12-Atg16). Interestingly, Oxytricha Atg16 protein includes WD repeats in addition to its N-terminal Atg16 domain as is the case in multicellular organisms. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses revealed that E2-like conjugating protein Atg10 is only present in Tetrahymena thermophila. We fail to find critical autophagy components Atg5, Atg7 and Atg8 in the parasitic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Contrary to previous reports, we also find that ciliate genomes do not encode typical Atg1 since all the candidate sequences lack an Atg1-specific C-terminal domain which is essential for Atg1 complex formation. Consistent with the absence of Atg1, ciliates also lack other members of the Atg1 complex. However, the presence of Atg6 in all ciliates examined here may rise the possibility that autophagosome formation could be operated through Atg6 in ciliates, since Atg6 has been shown as an alternative autophagy inducer. In conclusion, our results highlight that Atg proteins are partially conserved in ciliates. This may provide a better understanding for the autophagic destruction of the parental macronucleus, a developmental process also known as programmed nuclear death in ciliates.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Jauregui-Lozano ◽  
Kimaya Bakhle ◽  
Vikki M. Weake

AbstractThe chromatin landscape defines cellular identity in multicellular organisms with unique patterns of DNA accessibility and histone marks decorating the genome of each cell type. Thus, profiling the chromatin state of different cell types in an intact organism under disease or physiological conditions can provide insight into how chromatin regulates cell homeostasisin vivo. To overcome the many challenges associated with characterizing chromatin state in specific cell types, we developed an improved approach to isolateDrosophilanuclei tagged with GFP expressed under Gal4/UAS control. Using this protocol, we profiled chromatin accessibility using Omni-ATAC, and examined the distribution of histone marks using ChIP-seq and CUT&Tag in adult photoreceptor neurons. We show that the chromatin landscape of photoreceptors reflects the transcriptional state of these cells, demonstrating the quality and reproducibility of our approach for profiling the transcriptome and epigenome of specific cell types inDrosophila.


Author(s):  
Javed M ◽  
◽  
Khan A ◽  
Mukheed M ◽  
◽  
...  

Stem cells ae immature cells that have ability to differentiate into all specific and mature cells in body. The two main characteristics of stem cells are selfrenewable and ability to differentiate into all mature, functional and adult cells types. There are the two major classes a) pluripotent stem cells which have potential to differentiate in all adult cell and b) multipotent stem cells which have capacity to differentiate into many adult cells but not in all cell types. Due to the self-renewable ability stem cells are use in therapeutics, tissue regeneration, disease modeling and regenerative medicines and to treat cardiovascular diseases, neural disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and most importantly to treat carcinomas. The human induced pluripotent stem cells provide a great platform to study and treatment of human diseases because these are able to differentiate into many functional and specialized adult cells of body. The genome editing tools such as CRISPR Cas9 system and TALENs are used to generate multiple DNA variants in hPSCs by inducing site specific mutations, frame shift mutation and deletion. In present days CRISPR Cas9 is more efficient and frequent method for genome editing which is derived from bacterial cell.


2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (24) ◽  
pp. 4605-4617
Author(s):  
A. Hallmann ◽  
D.L. Kirk

Volvox is one of the simplest multicellular organisms with only two cell types, yet it has a surprisingly complex extracellular matrix (ECM) containing many region-specific morphological components, making Volvox suitable as a model system for ECM investigations. ECM deposition begins shortly after inversion, which is the process by which the embryo turns itself right-side-out at the end of embryogenesis. It was previously shown that the gene encoding an ECM glycoprotein called ISG is transcribed very transiently during inversion. Here we show that the developmentally controlled ISG accumulates at the bases of the flagella right after inversion, before any morphologically recognizable ECM structures have yet developed. Later, ISG is abundant in the ‘flagellar hillocks’ that encircle the basal ends of all flagella, and in the adjacent ‘boundary zone’ that delimits the spheroid. Transgenic Volvox were generated which express a truncated form of ISG. These transgenics exhibit a severely disorganized ECM within which the cells are embedded in a highly chaotic manner that precludes motility. A synthetic version of the C-terminal decapeptide of ISG has a similar disorganizing effect, but only when it is applied during or shortly after inversion. We postulate that ISG plays a critical role in morphogenesis and acts as a key organizer of ECM architecture; at the very beginning of ECM formation ISG establishes an essential initial framework that both holds the somatic cells in an adaptive orientation and acts as the scaffold upon which the rest of the ECM can be properly assembled, assuring that somatic cells of post-inversion spheroids are held in orientations and locations that makes adaptive swimming behavior possible.


Development ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 128 (9) ◽  
pp. 1539-1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Lee ◽  
J. Schiefelbein

The duplication and divergence of developmental control genes is thought to have driven morphological diversification during the evolution of multicellular organisms. To examine the molecular basis of this process, we analyzed the functional relationship between two paralogous MYB transcription factor genes, WEREWOLF (WER) and GLABROUS1 (GL1), in Arabidopsis. The WER and GL1 genes specify distinct cell types and exhibit non-overlapping expression patterns during Arabidopsis development. Nevertheless, reciprocal complementation experiments with a series of gene fusions showed that WER and GL1 encode functionally equivalent proteins, and their unique roles in plant development are entirely due to differences in their cis-regulatory sequences. Similar experiments with a distantly related MYB gene (MYB2) showed that its product cannot functionally substitute for WER or GL1. Furthermore, an analysis of the WER and GL1 proteins shows that conserved sequences correspond to specific functional domains. These results provide new insights into the evolution of the MYB gene family in Arabidopsis, and, more generally, they demonstrate that novel developmental gene function may arise solely by the modification of cis-regulatory sequences.


Development ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-498
Author(s):  
Andreas Dübendorfer ◽  
Glen Shields ◽  
James H. Sang

Embryos of Drosophila melanogaster, 6–8 h after oviposition, were dissociated and the cells cultured in vitro. Besides larval cell types, imaginal disc cells, assembled and growing in bloated monolayered vesicles, were obtained. The cells of these vesicles become competent to differentiate adult structures when treated with α-ecdysone or ecdysterone in vitro. Recognizable patterns of the adult fly are not formed though. If metamorphosis of imaginal cell vesicles from in vitro-cultures is induced in vivo by transplantation into host larvae of various ages within the third larval instar, recognizable patterns can differentiate provided the host larva does not metamorphose prior to 2 days after transplantation. The frequency of specific patterns in the implants can be increased by providing 9 days of culture in vivo (adult host flies) before metamorphosis. Passage through the third larval instar is not essential for these cells to produce identifiable patterns since culture in adult flies alone can achieve this. The quality of the differentiated pattern is not correlated with the extent of cell proliferation in the cultured tissues. The problem of pattern specification in vitro and in vivo is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 8231
Author(s):  
Verónica Sobrino ◽  
Aida Platero-Luengo ◽  
Valentina Annese ◽  
Elena Navarro-Guerrero ◽  
Patricia González-Rodríguez ◽  
...  

The carotid body (CB), a neural-crest-derived organ and the main arterial chemoreceptor in mammals, is composed of clusters of cells called glomeruli. Each glomerulus contains neuron-like, O2-sensing glomus cells, which are innervated by sensory fibers of the petrosal ganglion and are located in close contact with a dense network of fenestrated capillaries. In response to hypoxia, glomus cells release transmitters to activate afferent fibers impinging on the respiratory and autonomic centers to induce hyperventilation and sympathetic activation. Glomus cells are embraced by interdigitating processes of sustentacular, glia-like, type II cells. The CB has an extraordinary structural plasticity, unusual for a neural tissue, as it can grow several folds its size in subjects exposed to sustained hypoxia (as for example in high altitude dwellers or in patients with cardiopulmonary diseases). CB growth in hypoxia is mainly due to the generation of new glomeruli and blood vessels. In recent years it has been shown that the adult CB contains a collection of quiescent multipotent stem cells, as well as immature progenitors committed to the neurogenic or the angiogenic lineages. Herein, we review the main properties of the different cell types in the CB germinal niche. We also summarize experimental data suggesting that O2-sensitive glomus cells are the master regulators of CB plasticity. Upon exposure to hypoxia, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators released by glomus cells act as paracrine signals that induce proliferation and differentiation of multipotent stem cells and progenitors, thus causing CB hypertrophy and an increased sensory output. Pharmacological modulation of glomus cell activity might constitute a useful clinical tool to fight pathologies associated with exaggerated sympathetic outflow due to CB overactivation.


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