Development of Betta splendens embryos and larvae reveals variation in pigmentation patterns.

Vertebrate pigmentation provides an ideal system for studying the intersections between evolution, genetics, and developmental biology. Teleost fish, with their accessible developmental stages and intense and diverse colours produced by chromatophores, are an ideal group for study. We set out to test whether Betta splendens is a good model organism for studying the evolution and development of diverse pigmentation. Our results demonstrate that B. splendens can be bred to produce large numbers of offspring with easily visualized pigment cells. Depending on the colour of the parents, there was variation in larval pigmentation patterns both within and between breeding events. In juveniles the developing adult pigmentation patterns showed even greater variation. These results suggest that B. splendens has great potential as a model organism for pigmentation studies.

Who came first--larvae or adults? origins of bilaterian metazoan larvae.

There is a classic controversy in zoology over whether the common ancestor of living bilaterian phyla was a benthic animal with a bilaterian body plan, or was a pelagic larva-like animal similar to what we see today in the primary larvae of indirect-developing bilaterians. We examine the current larva-like adult hypothesis, and present an alternate model for the evolution of complex life histories by intercalation of larval features into the ontogeny of an ancestral direct-developing bilaterian. This gradual accumulation of larval features results in a developmental regulatory program that produces a larva distinct in body plan from the adult. The evolution of a rapid and complete metamorphosis is made possible by the convergent evolution of set aside cells in the final stages of the emergence of indirect developing larval forms. Although convergences abound either hypothesis for the evolution of developmental pathways and life histories, the bilaterian first hypothesis is consistent with all stages of evolution of a complex life history being selectively advantageous, with the rapid evolution of larval forms, and with the frequent co-option of genes from the adult phase of the life cycle prevalent in the evolution of embryos and larvae.

Patterns of gene expression in the developing adult sea urchin central nervous system reveal multiple domains and deep-seated neural pentamery.

The adult sea urchin central nervous system (CNS) is composed of five radial nerve cords connected to a circular nerve ring. Although much is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and function of the nervous systems of many invertebrate and vertebrate species, virtually nothing is known about these processes in echinoderms. We have isolated a set of clones from a size-selected cDNA library prepared from the nervous system of the sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma for use as probes. A total of 117 expressed sequence clones were used to search the GenBank database. Identified messages include genes that encode signaling proteins, cytoskeletal elements, cell surface proteins and receptors, cell proliferation and differentiation factors, transport and channel proteins, and a RNA DEAD box helicase. Expression was analyzed by RNA gel blot hybridization to document expression through development. Many of the genes have apparently neural limited expression and function, but some have been co-opted into new roles, notably associated with exocytotic events at fertilization. Localization of gene expression by whole-mount in situ hybridization shows that the morphologically simple sea urchin radial CNS exhibits complex organization into localized transcriptional domains. The transcription patterns reflect the morphological pentamery of the echinoderm CNS and provide no indication of an underlying functional bilateral symmetry in the CNS.

Regulatory punctuated equilibrium and convergence in the evolution of developmental pathways in direct-developing sea urchins.

We made hybrid crosses between closely and distantly related sea urchin species to test two hypotheses about the evolution of gene regulatory systems in the evolution of ontogenetic pathways and larval form. The first hypothesis is that gene regulatory systems governing development evolve in a punctuational manner during periods of rapid morphological evolution but are relatively stable over long periods of slow morphological evolution. We compared hybrids between direct and indirect developers from closely and distantly related families. Hybrids between eggs of the direct developer Heliocidaris erythrogramma and sperm of the 4-million year distant species H. tuberculata, an indirect developer, restored feeding larval structures and paternal gene expression that were lost in the evolution of the direct-developing maternal parent. Hybrids resulting from the cross between eggs of H. erythrogramma and sperm of the 40-million year distant indirect-developer Pseudoboletia maculata are strikingly similar to hybrids between the congeneric hybrids. The marked similarities in ontogenetic trajectory and morphological outcome in crosses of involving either closely or distantly related indirect developing species indicates that their regulatory mechanisms interact with those of H. erythrogramma in the same way, supporting remarkable conservation of molecular control pathways among indirect developers. Second, we tested the hypothesis that convergent developmental pathways in independently evolved direct developers reflect convergence of the underlying regulatory systems. Crosses between two independently evolved direct-developing species from two 70-million year distant families, H. erythrogramma and Holopneustes purpurescens, produced harmoniously developing hybrid larvae that maintained the direct mode of development and did not exhibit any obvious restoration of indirect-developing features. These results are consistent with parallel evolution of direct-developing features in these two lineages.