Spiculogenesis and biomineralization in early sponge animals

Of early animals, anaerobic mitochondria, and a modern sponge.

The origin and early evolution of animals marks an important event in life's history. This event is historically associated with an important variable in Earth history - oxygen. One view has it that an increase in oceanic oxygen levels at the end of the Neoproterozoic Era (roughly 600 million years ago) allowed animals to become large and leave fossils. How important was oxygen for the process ...

Oxygen and early animals

The biology of sponges provides clues about how early animals may have dealt with low levels of oxygen.

Porifera Lectins: Diversity, Physiological Roles and Biotechnological Potential

An overview on the diversity of 39 lectins from the phylum Porifera is presented, including 38 lectins, which were identified from the class of demosponges, and one lectin from the class of hexactinellida. Their purification from crude extracts was mainly performed by using affinity chromatography and gel filtration techniques. Other protocols were also developed in order to collect and study s...

Magnetite biomineralization and geomagnetic sensitivity in higher animals: an update and recommendations for future study.

Magnetite, the only known biogenic material with ferromagnetic properties, has been identified as a biochemical precipitate in three of the five kingdoms of living organisms, with a fossil record that now extends back nearly 2 billion years. In the magnetotactic bacteria, protoctists, and fish, single-domain crystals of magnetite are arranged in membrane-bound linear structures called magnetoso...

Morphine and Angiogenesis in Hypertensive Animals