Sponges and

Placozoans
JASPER KIT TANGAL, RFP
The Origins of Multicellularity
- Eukaryotic cell evolution led to diverse lineages of unicellular, colonial, or multicellular organisms

- Colonial organisms have multiple cells but no cell specialization

- Choanoflagellates are colonial organisms and the closest relatives of animals

- Multicellularity evolved independently in many lineages, including bacteria, algae, plants, and animals

- Animals are multicellular (metazoan) and have cell specialization and sexual reproduction

- Sponges are the simplest animals and the sister group of all other animals

- Sponges have different cell types but no symmetry, mouth, or digestive tract

- Sponges are suspension feeders that filter water through their bodies
ORIGIN OF
ANIMALS
- Opisthokonts are a group of eukaryotes that includes animals, fungi, choanoflagellates and some other
protists.

- Animals are closely related to choanoflagellates, which are single-celled or colonial organisms with a
flagellum and a collar of tentacles for filter-feeding.

- Choanoflagellates resemble sponge cells called choanocytes, which also have a flagellum and a collar of
tentacles for filter-feeding.

- Choanocytes are not present in early sponge development, but appear after larval metamorphosis.

- Collar cells are also found in some corals and echinoderms, but not in most other animal groups.

- Choanoflagellates and animals share some proteins for cell communication and adhesion, suggesting a
common evolutionary origin.
- A colonial organism is an organism composed of many cells that are loosely attached to each other and show little or no
specialization.

- Colonial organisms may have been the first step toward multicellular organisms, as they show some division of labor and
coordination among cells.

- Examples of colonial organisms include Volvox algae and some marine invertebrates and lower chordates.

- Researchers approach the question of animal origins by comparing the genomes and cell arrangements of colonial organisms and
sponges, which are simple multicellular animals.

- Sponges have a complex genetic architecture that includes many elements that code for parts of the regulatory pathways of more
complex animals, such as spatial patterning proteins.

- Some biologists hypothesize that more complex animals evolved through more complex gene expression patterns rather than
through new genetic components.
- Animal tissues evolved by comparing cell layers and junctions in simple animals

- Early animals had less-complex cell layers than later animals

- Sponges and placozoans have cell layers that differ from true tissue epithelia

- True tissue epithelia have desmosomes, adherens junctions and basal lamina

- Sponges lack desmosomes and placozoans lack basal lamina

- Placozoans have unusual mitochondrial genomes with features of animal outgroups and derived animals

- Animal tissues have a complex evolutionary history with multiple innovations and losses
PHYLUM
PORIFERA:
SPONGES
- Sponges are aquatic animals that belong to the phylum Porifera, which means
"pore-bearing".
- Sponges have no organs or tissues, but they have specialized cells called choanocytes
that create water currents and filter food particles.
- Sponges can be found in marine, brackish, and freshwater habitats, and they vary in size,
shape, and color.
- Sponges are important primary consumers in their ecosystems, and some species can
live for thousands of years.
- Sponges are sessile animals that attach to various substrates in aquatic habitats

- Sponges have different shapes and sizes depending on environmental factors

such as water currents and space availability

- Sponges are associated with many other animals, either as hosts, prey, or
camouflage
- Sponges have a skeletal framework that can be fibrous and/or rigid.

- The rigid skeleton is made of calcareous or siliceous spicules (see Figure 12.3).

- The fibrous skeleton is made of collagen protein fibrils in the intercellular matrix.

- One type of collagen is spongin.

- Sponges have photosynthetic organisms on and inside their body.

- Spicules can transmit light into the body by fiber optics.

- Sponges are an ancient group with a fossil record dating back to the Cambrian or Precambrian.

- Sponges are classified into three or four classes based on spicule form and composition: Calcispongiae, Hexactinellida,
Demospongiae, and Homoscleromorpha.
Form and
Function
- Sponges are suspension feeders that pump water through their body and collect food
particles on their choanocyte collars
- Sponges have dermal ostia (incurrent pores) in their pinacoderm (outer layer of cells) that
allow water to enter their canal systems
- Sponges can filter large volumes of water (up to 1500 liters per day) and consume food
particles ranging from 0.1 μm to 50 μm in size
- Sponges use different methods of ingestion, such as phagocytosis, pinocytosis, and
archaeocyte transfer, to process food particles and dissolved nutrients
- Water flow in sponges is controlled by the contraction of pore cells and the
beating of flagella of choanocytes.

- Sponges have three types of body plans: asconoid, syconoid and leuconoid, each
with different arrangements of choanocytes.

- Leuconoid sponges are the most complex and efficient in filtering water and
capturing food, and have evolved multiple times in different sponge groups.
Types of Canal
Systems
Asconoid
- Asconoid sponges are simple, tube-shaped animals that filter water through their
flagellated choanocytes.
- They have a single internal cavity (spongocoel) and a single opening (osculum) for water
flow.
- They are limited in size and food intake by the distance between the choanocytes and
the center of the spongocoel.
- They belong to class Calcispongiae and have calcareous spicules for support.
- Examples of asconoid sponges are Leucosolenia and Clathrina, which have white or
yellow tubular colonies.
Syconoid
- Syconoid sponges are tubular sponges with a single opening (osculum) and a thick body wall

- The body wall has choanocyte-lined canals that increase the surface area for food capture

- Water enters through dermal ostia into incurrent canals, then passes through prosopyles into
radial canals, then through apopyles into the spongocoel, and finally exits through the osculum

- The spongocoel is lined with epithelial cells and does not have choanocytes

- Syconoid sponges develop from an asconoid stage, but the syconoid condition evolved
independently in different sponge groups
Leuconoid
- Leuconoid organization allows sponges to grow larger by increasing the surface area of food-collecting regions

- Choanocytes line the walls of small chambers that filter water from incurrent canals to excurrent canals

- Leuconia is a leuconoid sponge that pumps a lot of water through its 81,000 incurrent canals and 2 million
flagellated chambers

- Water flow slows down in the chambers to facilitate food capture by choanocytes.

- Food removal leads to exit stream formation from used water

- Exit stream leaves through exit pore with smaller cross-sectional area than
incurrent canals

- Exit pore creates high exit velocity to avoid refiltering

- Leuconia has single osculum with jet force of 8.5 cm/second

- Most leuconoids have multiple oscula and can filter 1500 liters of water a day
Types of Cells in
the Sponge Body
- Sponge cells are organized in a soft matrix called mesohyl that contains fibers,
skeletons, and mobile cells
- Sponge cells perform respiration, excretion, and water regulation by diffusion and
vacuoles
- Sponge cells can change shape, contract, and open or close pores in response to
environmental stimuli
- Sponge cells communicate by mechanical or chemical signals, but lack nerve cells
Choanocytes
- Choanocytes are ovoid cells that line the flagellated canals and chambers of sponges
- They have a flagellum and a collar of microvilli at one end, and are embedded in mesohyl
at the other end
- They filter food particles from water by beating their flagellum and trapping them in
mucus
- They transfer the food particles to archaeocytes for intracellular digestion
- They also participate in sexual reproduction by producing gametes
Archaeocytes
- Archaeocytes: ameboid cells that move in the mesohyl and perform various functions

- Functions of archaeocytes include:

- phagocytizing particles at the pinacoderm

- receiving particles for digestion from choanocytes

- differentiating into other specialized cells in the sponge

- Types of specialized cells derived from archaeocytes include:

- sclerocytes: secrete spicules

- spongocytes: secrete spongin fibers of the skeleton

- collencytes: secrete collagen fibers

- lophocytes: secrete large quantities of collagen

Pinacocytes
- Pinacocytes are thin, flat cells that cover the exterior and some interior surfaces of sponges

- Pinacocytes are the nearest approach to a true tissue in sponges, but they lack a basal membrane in most
sponges

- Pinacocytes have intercellular junctions and a distinct type of collagen in homoscleromorph sponges

- Pinacocytes can ingest food particles by phagocytosis and regulate surface area and water flow of
sponges

- Some pinacocytes are modified as contractile myocytes, which form circular bands around oscula or pores
Cell Independence:
Regeneration
and Somatic
Embryogenesis
- Sponges can heal wounds and regrow lost parts through regeneration, which involves reorganization of
the wounded portion only.

- Sponges can also develop new sponges from small fragments or aggregates of cells through somatic
embryogenesis, which involves complete reorganization of the structure and functions of participating cells
or bits of tissue.

- Somatic embryogenesis has been studied extensively, but the mechanisms and roles of different cell types
are still debated.

- Sponges can also reproduce asexually by bud formation, either external or internal. External buds can
detach or form colonies, while internal buds (gemmules) can survive harsh conditions and form new
sponges later.
Sexual
Reproduction
- Most sponges are monoecious and viviparous, meaning they have both male and female sex cells and retain the
zygote inside the parent.

- Sperm and oocytes are derived from choanocytes or archaeocytes, depending on the sponge group.

- Sperm are released into the water and taken up by other sponges, where they are transported to the oocytes by
carrier cells.

- The ciliated larva is usually a parenchymula, but other types exist. Some sponges have direct development without a
larval stage.

- Some Calcispongiae and Demospongiae have a blastula larva that undergoes inversion, turning inside out. The
flagellated cells become choanocytes and other cell types, while the non flagellated cells form the pinacoderm and
sclerocytes.
Class Calcispongiae
- Calcispongiae are a group of sponges with calcium carbonate spicules
- Spicules can be straight or have three or four rays
- Calcispongiae are usually small, tubular or vase-shaped, and can have different colors
- Calcispongiae can have different body plans: asconoid, syconoid, or leuconoid
- Leucosolenia and Sycon are examples of calcispongiae that are often studied in labs
- Leucosolenia grows in branching colonies with stolonlike tubes
- Clathrina has intertwined tubes
- Sycon is a solitary sponge that can bud and form clusters
- Sycon has a fringe of spicules around the osculum
Sycon
Leucosolenia
Class Hexactinellida (Hyalospongiae):
Glass Sponges
-Glass sponges belong to Hexactinellida or Hyalospongiae, a class of mostly deep-sea sponges with radial symmetry
and vase- or funnel-shaped bodies.

- They have a skeleton of six-rayed siliceous spicules that form a glasslike network. They also have a syncytial tissue
structure, meaning they have many nuclei in a single large cell.

- The syncytial tissue is called a trabecular reticulum and it can be sheetlike or tubular. It has a thin mesohyl layer with
cells such as archaeocytes or choanoblasts.

- Choanoblasts are cells that produce flagellated outgrowths called collar bodies. These collar bodies create water flow
and form flagellated chambers. The trabecular reticulum splits into two bilayered sheets: a primary and a secondary
reticulum.
Class Demospongiae
- This group refers to the class Demospongiae, which is the largest and most diverse class of sponges

- Demospongiae have siliceous spicules that are not six rayed, or no spicules at all

- Some Demospongiae have spongin skeletons, such as the bath sponges Spongia and Hippospongia

- All Demospongiae are leuconoid, meaning they have complex canal systems with many chambers lined with choanocytes

- Demospongiae are mostly marine, but some live in freshwater habitats, such as Spongilla and Myenia

- Demospongiae exhibit a variety of shapes, colors and sizes, ranging from encrusting forms to large fans, vases and balls

- Freshwater Demospongiae can survive harsh conditions by producing gemmules, which are resistant structures that
contain sponge cells and spicules
Class Homoscleromorpha
- Homoscleromorphs are a class of marine sponges with unique characteristics
- They have a pinacoderm layer with a basement membrane and adherens cell
junctions
- They may have an incipient tissue, but not a true tissue
- They are divided into two clades: spicule-less and spicule-bearing
- Some examples are Plakina, Oscarella, and Corticium
Phylogeny and
Adaptive
Diversification
Phylogeny
- Sponges are ancient animals that diverged from other animal phyla before the Cambrian period.

- Sponges have simple body plans that consist of a porous wall of cells surrounding a central cavity.

- Sponges belong to four classes: Calcarea, Hexactinellida, Demospongiae and Homoscleromorpha.

- Sponges share some features with other animals, such as cell adhesion proteins, collagen type IV, blastula
and gastrula stages of development.

- Sponges differ from other animals in lacking true tissues, organs and symmetry.

- Sponges have diverse ecological roles and interactions with other organisms, such as reef formation,
symbiosis and predation.
Adaptive Diversification
- Porifera: a diverse group of aquatic animals with a water-current system and siliceous spicules

- Demospongiae: a subclass of Porifera that includes carnivorous sponges living in deep-water caves

- Carnivorous sponges: sponges that capture and digest small crustaceans with hooklike spicules and
filaments

- Chemoautotrophic sponges: sponges that harbor symbiotic bacteria that use methane as an energy
source

- Choanocytes: specialized cells that create water currents and filter food particles in most sponges

- Evolution of sponges: a complex and nondirectional process that involves loss and gain of traits in different
lineages
- The deep sea harp sponge, Chondrocladia lyra, is a remarkable example of a
predatory sponge.
- It has multiple vanes with long stolons that anchor it to the seafloor and vertical
branches that trap small prey.
- It reproduces sexually by releasing spermatophores from terminal balls and
holding eggs on the branches.
- It belongs to a diverse genus of sponges with different shapes and sizes.
PHYLUM
PLACOZOA
- Placozoa is a phylum of marine animals with only one known species, Trichoplax adhaerens

- The body is flat, asymmetrical, and lacks organs, muscles, nerves, basal lamina and extracellular matrix

- The body has two epithelial layers: dorsal (cover cells and shiny spheres) and ventral (cylinder cells and gland cells)

- The space between the layers contains multinucleate fibrous contractile cells

- Placozoans feed by secreting digestive enzymes and absorbing the products

- They reproduce asexually by division or budding and possibly sexually by producing eggs

- They have eight genetic lineages that are indistinguishable morphologically

- They are considered diploblastic with ectoderm (dorsal) and endoderm (ventral) layers