Widespread cloning in echinoderm larvae (original) (raw)

Reproduction

Nature volume 425, page 146 (2003) Cite this article

Abstract

Asexual reproduction by free-living invertebrate larvae is a rare and enigmatic phenomenon and, although it is known to occur in sea stars1,2,3,4 and brittle stars5,6, it has not been detected in other echinoderms despite more than a century of intensive study6,7. Here we describe spontaneous larval cloning in three species from two more echinoderm classes: a sea cucumber (Holothuroidea), a sand dollar and a sea urchin (Echinoidea). Larval cloning may therefore be an ancient ability of echinoderms and possibly of deutero-stomes — the group that includes echinoderms, acorn worms, sea squirts and vertebrates.

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Figure 1: Asexual budding by echinoderm larvae.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Physiology and Cell Biology Group, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2E9, Alberta, Canada
    Alexandra A. Eaves
  2. Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Bamfield, V0R 1B0, British Columbia, Canada
    Alexandra A. Eaves
  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Systematics and Evolution Group, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2E9, Alberta, Canada
    A. Richard Palmer
  4. Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Bamfield, V0R 1B0, British Columbia, Canada
    A. Richard Palmer

Authors

  1. Alexandra A. Eaves
  2. A. Richard Palmer

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Correspondence toAlexandra A. Eaves.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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brief communications is intended to provide a forum for brief, topical reports of general scientific interest and for technical discussion of recently published material of particular interest to non-specialist readers (communications arising). Priority will be given to contributions that have fewer than 500 words, 10 references and only one figure. Detailed guidelines are available on Nature's website (http://www.nature.com/nature).

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Eaves, A., Palmer, A. Widespread cloning in echinoderm larvae.Nature 425, 146 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/425146a

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