From the earliest observations of deep-sea animals, it was obvious that they differed in many ways from shallower-living relatives. Over the years, there has been speculation that deep-sea animals have unusually low rates of biological activity; numerous adaptive scenarios explaining this have ben offered. However, these speculations and scenarios have rarely been tested due to the difficulty o...

Astacin-like metalloproteases are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom but their phylogenetic relationships and ancient functions within the Metazoa are unclear. We have cloned and characterized four astacin-like cDNAs from the marine hydroid Hydractinia echinata and performed a database search for related genes in the draft genome sequence of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. These sequences...

Across the animal kingdom, Hox genes are organized in clusters whose genomic organization reflects their central roles in patterning along the anterior/posterior (A/P) axis . While a cluster of Hox genes was present in the bilaterian common ancestor, the origins of this system remain unclear (cf. ). With new data for two representatives of the closest extant phylum to the Bilateria, the sea ane...

the present study was aimed to identify the frequency of coagulase (coa) and thermonuclease (nuc) genes and staphylococcal enterotoxin a (sea) production among staphylococcus aureus isolated from various sources in shiraz. moreover, the correlation between the sea gene and coagulase and thermonuclease enzymes is also considered. a total of 100 s. aureus were isolated from various sources includ...

One of the strongest paleontological arguments in favor of the origin of bilaterally symmetrical animals (Bilateria) prior to their obvious and explosive appearance in the fossil record in the early Cambrian, 542 million years ago, is the occurrence of trace fossils shaped like elongated sinuous grooves or furrows in the Precambrian. Being restricted to the seafloor surface, these traces are re...

It was pointed out by us (Chowhan, 1941) that epileptic attacks and mental disturbances in man may be due to imbalance of mineral constituents of blood leading to disturbances in the water balance of the body. The knowledge that the mineral contents of sea water are more or less similar to that of body juices lead to the consideration that injections of sea water would be beneficial in the trea...

Synapses provide pathways of communication between cells throughout the animal kingdom wherever a nervous system is present. The most primitive or elementary nervous system that can be readily recognized is the nerve net of coelenterates . The first synapses described at the ultrastructural level in nerve net animals were symmetrical synapses in marginal ganglia of jellyfish (Horridge and Macka...

To investigate the association between genital bacterial infection and urogenital carcinoma in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), vaginal and preputial swabs for bacterial isolation were taken from 148 free-ranging and 51 stranded California sea lions including 16 animals with urogenital carcinoma. Cytological examination of vaginal or preputial smears showed a majority (65.5%, 57/8...