Biofilms of the bacterium Pseudoalteromonas induce metamorphosis of acroporid coral larvae. The bacterial metabolite tetrabromopyrrole (TBP), isolated from an extract of Pseudoalteromonas sp. associated with the crustose coralline alga (CCA) Neogoniolithon fosliei, induced coral larval metamorphosis (100%) with little or no attachment (0-2%). To better understand the molecular events and mechan...

Marine invertebrates commonly have a biphasic life cycle in which the metamorphic transition from a pelagic larva to a benthic post-larva is mediated by the nitric oxide signalling pathway. Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesised by nitric oxide synthase (NOS), which is a client protein of the molecular chaperon heat shock protein 90 (HSP90). It is notable, then, that both NO and HSP90 have been impli...

This is a study of the English writing of metamorphosis from the Reformation to the late seventeenth century. It asks what work is done by the imagining of transformation in this period and explores events and creatures which may seem to us fantastic: animated stones, werewolves, wild children. Looking at a range of writing in English from literary texts to court records, Writing Metamorphosis ...

Diverse animal taxa metamorphose between larval and juvenile phases in response to bacteria. Although bacteria-induced metamorphosis is widespread among metazoans, little is known about the molecular changes that occur in the animal upon stimulation by bacteria. Larvae of the tubeworm Hydroides elegans metamorphose in response to surface-bound Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea bacteria, producing...

*Correspondence: Sandie M. Degnan, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia e-mail: [email protected] †Present address: Nobuo Ueda, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tuebingen, Germany Nitric oxide (NO) is a second messenger molecule synthesized by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS) that requires the molecular chaperone ...

There is a growing realization that events during one portion of an organism's life cycle can have both subtle and dramatic effects on other stages in the life history. Lethal and sublethal effects associated with the duration of larval swimming in marine invertebrates were examined for the bryozoan Bugula neritina. Larvae were kept swimming up to a maximum of 28 h at 20°C by exposure to contin...

Mechanisms by which attainment of specific body sizes trigger developmental transitions to adulthood (e.g. puberty or metamorphosis) are incompletely understood. In Drosophila, metamorphosis is triggered by ecdysone synthesis from the prothoracic gland (PG), whereas growth rate is increased by insulin/insulin growth factor signalling (IIS). Transgene-induced activation of PI3K, the major effect...

Two important features of amphibian metamorphosis are the sequential response of tissues to different concentrations of thyroid hormone (TH) and the development of the negative feedback loop between the pituitary and the thyroid gland that regulates TH synthesis by the thyroid gland. At the climax of metamorphosis in Xenopus laevis (when the TH level is highest), the ratio of the circulating pr...

Larval sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) were exposed to either a warm (18 degrees C) or a cold (3 degrees C) water temperature and either with (treated) or without (untreated) the presence of potassium perchlorate (KClO4). After 23 weeks, larvae were examined for signs of metamorphosis and serum samples were collected to assay thyroxine (T4) and 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations. Wat...

Craniofacial remodeling during flatfish metamorphosis, including eye migration, is perhaps the most striking example of asymmetric postembryonic development in the vertebrate world. The asymmetry of the cranium mainly results from distortion of the frontal bones, which depends on eye migration during metamorphosis. However, it is unclear how the up-migrating eye causes distortion of the frontal...