Ascidian Peribranchial Epithelium Cells May Possess the Information of Visceral Pattern

In the budding ascidian Polyandrocarpa misakiensis, chimeric zooids are induced by the fusion of two different adultbody fragments. If each body fragments was derived from a different visceral pattern zooid (cf, normal body pattern zooidand situs inversus or reversed zooid), some types of chimeric zooids were known to be produced. Using two different colorphenotypes, white-spot strain and spotless one, it is confirmed that chimeric zooids are surely produced. In this study, wemade chimeric zooids between body fragments with reversed white-spot and ones with normal spotless, and analyzedoffspring of the chimeric zooids. The chimeric zooids produced blastozooids with new combination of color pattern andvisceral pattern, that is, blastozooids with normal white-spot or ones with reversed spotless. In blastogenic generation,palleal budding, a bud consists of two envelopes of cell layers: the epidermal and the peribranchial epithelium. Previously,we found that the epidermal epithelium is the carrier of the color pattern. Therefore, our results strongly suggest thatthe information of determining of visceral pattern (L-R axial polarity) exists in the peribranchial epithelium in asexualreproduction ie., palleal budding

Phagocytic Activity of Tunic Cells in the Colonial Ascidian Aplidium yamazii : Polyclinidae, Aplousobranchia

Volume: 11Start Page: 203End Page: 20