Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on February 16, 2006
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2006 46(2):104-117; doi:10.1093/icb/icj016
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Embryogenesis in the glass sponge Oopsacas minuta: Formation of syncytia by fusion of blastomeres
*Department of Biological Sciences CW405, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9
Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, Université de la Méditerranée, Station marine d'Endoume, UMR-CNRS DIMAR 6540 rue de la Batterie des Lions, 13007 Marseille, France
Correspondence: 1E-mail: sleys{at}ualberta.ca
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Sponges (Porifera) are unusual animals whose body plans make interpreting phylogenetic relationships within the group and with other basal metazoan taxa a difficult task. Although molecular approaches have offered new insights, some questions require a morphological approach using detailed ultrastructural or light microscopical studies of developing embryos and larvae. Glass sponges (Hexactinellida) have perhaps the most unusual body plan within the Metazoa because the majority of the tissue of the adult consists of a single giant multinucleated syncytium that forms the inner and outer layers of the sponge and is joined by cytoplasmic bridges to uninucleate cellular regions. Here we have used serial section transmission and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy to examine when syncytia first form in the cave-dwelling glass sponge Oopsacas minuta. We confirm that in O. minuta blastomeres are separate until the 32-cell stage; cleavage is equal but asynchronous until a hollow blastula is formed. The sixth division yields a collection of variously sized micromeres at the surface of the embryo and large yolk- and lipid-filled macromeres lining the blastocoel. Syncytia then form by the fusion of micromeres to form cytoplasmic bridges with each other and the fusion of macromeres to form the future multinucleated trabecular tissue of the larva and adult sponge. The multinucleated trabecular tissue envelops and forms cytoplasmic bridges with all uninucleate cells, covering the developing larva with a continuous syncytial epithelium. Differentiation of tissues occurs very early during embryogenesis with the separation of uninucleate and multinucleate lineages, but all cells and syncytia are joined by cytoplasmic bridges such that there is cytoplasmic continuity throughout the entire larva. Although glass sponges begin life as a cellular embryo, the unusual mechanism of syncytia formation at such an early stage in development distinguishes this group of animals from their closest multicellular relatives, the Demospongiae. Most important, however, these data lend support to the hypothesis that the original metazoans were cellular, not syncytial.
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With the rapid progress in molecular techniques, resolving the relationships among basal metazoan phyla is becoming more feasible, but detailed morphological observations of early development are also important for determining ancestral character states of the most basal metazoan groups. The traditional phylogeny of the Porifera, adopted in a recent review of the phylum (Hooper and Van Soest 2002), identifies 3 classes, distinguished by their skeletal morphology, its composition, and its mechanism of deposition: Hexactinellida (commonly called "glass sponges": sponges with a siliceous skeleton secreted intracellularly around a square axial filament), Demospongiae (sponges with a siliceous and/or organic skeleton secreted intra- or extracellularly around a triangular or hexagonal axial filament or with no skeleton), and the Calcarea (sponges with a calcium carbonate skeleton secreted extracellularly within a collagenous sheath, but with no axial filament).
The similarity in "glassyness" of the siliceous skeleton of hexactinellids and demosponges led de Laubenfels (1955)
to propose linking a collection of the siliceous sponges in the class Hyalospongiae. A major objection to the combination of these 2 groups into a single class has been the distinct triaxial spicule geometry and square axial filament of hexactinellid sponges (Reid 1963), but it was nevertheless agreed that they could be united at the subphylum level, thus distinguishing the 2 major groupings of sponges as the Silicea and Calcarea (Reid 1957, 1963). Recent analyses of 18s rRNA and protein coding genes also suggest sponges are paraphyletic (Collins 1998; Kruse and others 1998; Zrzavy and others 1998; Borchiellini and others 2001; Medina and others 2001). Despite the relatively weak bootstrap support on these analyses, the idea has been expressed quite prominently in the literature because it provocatively suggests that the ancestor of the Cnidaria and other metazoans was a spongelike animal. The name Silicispongia, a term originally proposed by Gray (1867), has been reintroduced to refer to a common clade including Hexactinellida and Demospongiae (Zrzavy and others 1998), and Calcispongia, to refer to calcareous sponges (Borchiellini and others 2001).
The fossil record is limited, but the available evidence does not refute these suggested relationships. Fossils identified as hexactinellid spicules are known from the late Proterozoic (stratigraphically corresponding to the Ediacara Formation of Australia), whereas the first record of demosponge spicules is later in the lower Cambrian (Steiner and others 1993; Reitner and Mehl 1995; Brasier and others 1997). Interestingly, spicules from 2 genera of an extinct group of siliceous sponges known from the Burgess Shale (Eiffelia and Chancelloria) show intriguing features, including the presence of calcium carbonate. If the analysis is correct, these fossils suggest that all 3 major sponge groups may have arisen from an ancestral stock of siliceous "proto-sponges" (Reid 1963; Botting and Butterfield 2005). Thus, fossil and molecular evidence suggests that siliceous sponges diverged first from a common ancestor and hexactinellids diverged next from other siliceous sponges, that is, that siliceous sponges form a common clade (Müller 1995; Reitner and Mehl 1995, 1996; Collins 1998; Kruse and others 1998; Schütze and others 1999; Mehl-Janussen 2000; Medina and others 2001). Another characteristic supports this conclusion: analysis of chemical biomarkers suggests that siliceous sponges share similar membrane characteristics and microbial communities (Thiel and others 2002).
Morphological data suggest another interpretation of sponge relationships. A detailed study of the living tissue, ultrastructure, and physiology has conclusively demonstrated the largely syncytial structure of hexactinellid sponge tissues. The adult glass sponge is composed of a giant multinucleate tissue, the trabecular syncytium, that stretches from dermal (outer) to atrial (inner) surfaces (Mackie and Singla 1983; Boury-Esnault and De Vos 1988; Reiswig and Mehl 1991; Boury-Esnault and Vacelet 1994; Leys 1995, 1999). This tissue surrounds uninucleate portions of the sponge and is connected to these by cytoplasmic bridges plugged with a unique proteinaceous junction (Mackie 1981; Mackie and Singla 1983). The continuity of this tissue throughout the whole animal allows these sponges, alone among the Porifera, to propagate electrical signals that cause the immediate arrest of the feeding current (Lawn and others 1981; Leys and Mackie 1997).
Knowledge of glass sponge tissue structure prompted the proposed separation of all sponges into 2 subphyla, the Symplasma for sponges with syncytial tissues and the Cellularia for sponges with cellular tissues and either a siliceous or calcareous skeleton (Reiswig and Mackie 1983). A similar proposal by Bidder (1929)—Nuda, sponges without a cellular mesohyl, and Gelatinosa, sponges with a cellular mesohyl—was considered by Reid (1963) but rejected on the grounds that glass sponges likely arose from a common cellular, siliceous choanoflagellate stock rather than 2 separate stocks with and without adhesive material between cells. Reid's argument was based on drawings of a cellular larva in Farrea sollasii by Okada (1928), the only hexactinellid for which detailed embryological studies existed. Clearly, further evidence of embryogenesis is needed for this argument.
The reason we know so little about embryogenesis in hexactinellids is that their embryos are difficult to obtain, primarily because of the deep-water habitat of the adults but also because many specimens collected are not reproductive. There is the added complication that fixation techniques with hexactinellids are difficult (Mackie and Singla 1983). The finding in a cave near Marseille, France, of a tiny species of glass sponge that is reproductive year round allowed reexamination of development and confirmed the largely cellular nature of the embryo and larva (Boury-Esnault and others 1999). But in neither Okada's (1928) nor this recent study was it explained exactly how the syncytial tissues of the adult sponge arise.
From both Okada (1928) and Boury-Esnault and colleagues (1999) we know that F. sollasii Schulze, 1886, and Oopsacas minuta Topsent, 1927, share very similar early development. Cleavage is total and equal, and the 16-cell embryo is a hollow blastula of equally sized cells. Okada (1928) describes the F. sollasii embryo as planula-like with 2 cellular layers. The outer layer has up to 3 types of "cell elements," and the inner mass has 2 types of amoeboid cells with numerous yolk granules. The later embryo is nearly spherical, with an outer layer of closely packed cells and a central mass of a clear, transparent, jellylike substance surrounding amoeboid cells that have wandered in from the outer layer. Some of the wandering cells are multinucleate and form spicules, which first appear at the periphery of the inner mass. Others form the collar cells of choanocyte chambers which appear in the center of the embryo.
In O. minuta all divisions are also equal until the 32-blastomere stage (Boury-Esnault and others 1999). The sixth cleavage is unequal, resulting in a layer of micromeres on the outside and macromeres on the inside of the hollow blastula. According to these authors, the micromeres multiply at the surface to make an external flat syncytial layer and a layer of multiciliated cells (Boury-Esnault and others 1999). The macromeres divide to fill up the center of the embryo and form 2 cell types, a type with mostly lipid that remains uninucleate and lies at the future anterior pole of the larva the another type with yolk, which lies at the posterior pole of the larva. The latter type apparently forms a multinucleate tissue and also gives rise to separate multinucleate "cells" that form the spicules.
From these 2 descriptions we understand the glass sponge larva to consist of a complex mixture of uninucleate and multinucleate "cells." It is a difficult combination to comprehend, and it is not clear exactly how multinucleate tissues arise. Here we have reexamined early embryogenesis in O. minuta using light, transmission, and scanning electron microscopy with the specific goal of determining when syncytial tissues form during the ontogeny of glass sponges.
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Adult specimens of O. minuta were collected in November 2002 at 20 m depth in the 3PP submarine cave near La Ciotat, France (Vacelet and others 1994
). Specimens were chipped off the rock at their base into glass containers and transported to the Station Marine d'Endoume in Marseille. Sponges were transferred while still submerged to containers of cold cave seawater and maintained at 12°C. To obtain embryos, whole specimens (3–6 cm long) were cut in half lengthwise and immersed instantly in a cocktail fixative of 1% osmium tetroxide, 2% glutaraldehyde, in 0.45 M sodium acetate buffer (pH 6.4) with 10% sucrose in the final mixture. The fixative was changed after 30 min and sponges were left at 4°C for 2 h. Specimens were rinsed briefly in distilled water and dehydrated to 70% ethanol for transport to the University of Alberta, Canada. Individual embryos (<100 µm in diameter) identified at 120x magnification with an Olympus SZX stereomicroscope were carefully removed from the tissue of adult specimens using forceps. Images of whole embryos were captured using a QI Cam digital monochrome camera and Northern Eclipse software.
Embryos were desilicified in 4% HF in 70% ethanol (en bloc) overnight, then rinsed twice in 70% ethanol and stained in 0.5% uranyl acetate in 70% ethanol (en bloc) for a second night. Finally embryos were dehydrated to 100% ethanol, infiltrated in epoxy (Embed 812) overnight, and embedded. Serial thick sections of 119 embryos were cut with a diamond knife and stained in Richardson's (Richardson and others 1960); images were captured on a Zeiss Axioskop compound microscope using the imaging system described above. Thin sections were collected intermittently through the embryo, stained with lead citrate and viewed in a Phillips (FEI) transmission electron microscope. For scanning electron microscopy, adult sponges were desilicified as described above, dehydrated to 100% ethanol, and fractured in the vial of ethanol in liquid nitrogen, or embryos were removed whole from the adult tissue as described above and dehydrated to 100% ethanol. Specimens were critical-point dried, mounted on aluminum stubs with nail polish, coated with gold, and viewed in a JEOL 6301F field emission scanning electron microscope.
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Embryogenesis
Early cleavage in O. minuta is total and equal until the 32-cell stage (Fig. 1). The first cleavage divides the oocyte neatly in 2 (Fig. 1A and B). The second cleavage division may be either equatorial or rotational (Fig. 1C and D). Embryos with 6 blastomeres, but not 8, were found, suggesting that early cleavage is asynchronous (Fig. 1E and F). The 16- and 32-cell embryos are hollow blastulas (Fig. 1G–L) whose cells are held together by numerous filopodia that project from their surfaces (Fig. 1L). Although in thick sections the nuclear region of early blastomeres is easily identified (Fig. 1F), a nuclear envelope was not found in thin sections of any blastomere; instead an electron dense region (presumably DNA) in the center of the cell radiates out into the cytoplasm (Fig. 1J). Yolk inclusions are distributed around the nucleus and lipid inclusions are at the periphery of each cell (Fig. 1F, J, and K).
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After the fifth cycle (
32-cell stage) cleavage is unequal and results in the division of blastomeres into a collection of irregularly shaped cells surrounding the blastocoel (Fig. 2). Small cuboidal cells 4–6 µm in diameter (micromeres) lie at the outer surface, and large yolk- and lipid-rich cells (macromeres), also very irregular in shape, surround the blastocoel (Fig. 2A–H). Many of the embryos are polarized at this stage; one side of the embryo usually lacks micromeres altogether, whereas the opposite pole has fewer yolk- and lipid-filled macromeres (Fig. 2A–C). Micromeres have distinct nuclei 3–4 µm in diameter with a clear nuclear envelope (for example, Fig. 3A), and some differentiate first a single, and subsequently multiple, cilia (Figs. 2A and 3A). Importantly, all micromeres are connected to each other by cytoplasmic bridges with characteristic hexactinellid "plugged junctions" (Figs. 2H and I and 3A).
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Initially, the macromeres still surround a hollow blastocoel, but sections of multiple embryos suggest that the macromeres become elongate and gradually fill the center of the blastula (Figs. 2A–D and 3B). Once the embryo is solid, lamellipodia extend from the apical surface of the macromeres to envelop the micromeres (Fig. 3B–F), thereby forming the outer epithelium of the embryo. Furthermore, the macromeres also produce filopodia that interdigitate and appear to fuse (Fig. 3C, upper right). All embryos after this stage consist of a single multinucleate tissue—the incipient trabecular reticulum of the future larva and adult sponge—that envelops the micromeres (Figs. 3E, F and 4A–F). Moreover, this macromere-derived tissue forms cytoplasmic bridges with the micromeres and each of these bridges contains a plugged junction (Fig. 3D).
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After it is formed, the trabecular reticulum becomes regionalized, with more yolk at the future posterior pole and more lipid at the future anterior pole (Fig. 3E). Micromeres also differentiate, but at all times they maintain cytoplasmic continuity with the trabecular reticulum and other cells via cytoplasmic bridges. Multiciliated cells form a single band around the equator of the embryo with their cilia projecting through the syncytial epithelium (Figs. 3E and F and 4A–D). Sclerocytes, spicule-producing cells, produce a square axial filament within a small vacuole while they are still at the periphery of the embryo (Fig. 3F). They develop numerous long pseudopodia and migrate in at the posterior pole, and at the same time the vacuole enlarges with the secretion of silica around the proteinaceous axial filament. The sclerocytes then elongate from the posterior region, and as they extend to the anterior pole they become multinucleate (Figs. 4E and 5A–C). Other micromeres also ingress into the posterior central region, and as the embryo elongates these cells form the choanocyte chambers (Figs. 4C, 5C, and 6C, D). The choanocyte begins as a single nucleated cell with a single flagellum and a collar of microvilli (Fig. 6D), and all such cells are connected to similar cells and to the trabecular tissue by plugged cytoplasmic bridges. Subsequently the portion of the cell containing the collar and flagellum (collar body) becomes separated by a long cytoplasmic bridge from the region with the nucleus. In late embryos the trabecular reticulum envelops and penetrates the small spherical chambers that are formed by collar bodies, but even in the fully developed embryo the chambers lack the bilayered reticulum of the adult sponge and they are not connected to the outside of the embryo (Fig. 6C and D). Spherulous cells are the last cell type to become identifiable in the posterior-central region. These cells contain large spherulous inclusions and are the only cell type in which a cytoplasmic bridge and plugged junction have not been found.
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Larval structure
The resulting larva is syncytial, like the adult. It consists of a continuous multinucleate tissue that reaches from anterior to posterior poles, forms the outer epithelium and the bulk of the inner mass, and is connected to cellular components via cytoplasmic bridges (Fig. 5A–C). Multiciliated cells form a belt around the central third of the larva. Their cilia project through the syncytial epithelium (Fig. 6A and B). Flagellated chambers occur in the center-posterior half of the larva but are not connected to a canal system (Fig. 6C and D). Sclerocytes are a thin sheath of multinucleate cytoplasm that surrounds stauractine (4-rayed) spicules whose long rays lie longitudinally from the lipid-dense anterior pole to the yolk-filled posterior at the periphery of the larva (Figs. 5C and 6E). The intersection of the short rays occurs at a point a third of the distance from the posterior pole, and the distal ends of the long rays converge at the posterior pole. Within the trabecular reticulum in the central-posterior portion of the larva lie 4 to 6 choanocyte chambers 10–15 µm in diameter.
The trabecular reticulum surrounds all of the cellular components and extends from anterior to posterior pole. At the anterior pole the trabecular tissue consists of thin strands with a little yolk, and large spherical lipid inclusions (Figs. 5C and 6). Toward the equator and posterior pole, portions of the trabecular reticulum are thicker, with many small yolk inclusions (Figs. 5C and 6E). Fine strands of this syncytial tissue, interlaced with sheets of collagen (Fig. 6A, B, D, and E), are continuous throughout the larva; there are no membrane boundaries between lipid- and yolk-filled regions.
The stages in early development are summarized in Figure 7 and Table 1.
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Ultrastructural study of early development in O. minuta has revealed 2 new findings. First, plugged cytoplasmic bridges form between micromeres soon after these cells arise. Second, we report that the syncytial tissue of the larva and of the adult is formed by the fusion of the yolk- and lipid-filled macromeres. At the time these cells fuse, they envelop the micromeres, creating an amoeboid syncytial tissue. Furthermore, this tissue then forms cytoplasmic bridges with all the former micromeres. The result is a fully cytoplasmically interconnected embryo and larva (Fig. 6). First and foremost, however, these results confirm that syncytial glass sponges and their larvae arise from cellular embryos.
Formation of syncytia
Glass sponge embryos have long been described as being cellular, as have their larvae. The principal difference in our findings from the studies by both Okada (1928) and Boury-Esnault and others (1999) is that although the early embryo is clearly cellular, the gastrula and late embryo are largely syncytial, not cellular.
Serial thick section and thin section transmission electron microscopy allows us to identify key features of glass sponge development such as cytoplasmic bridges in the early micromeres, but the static images do not tell us how the bridges form. Although the bridges could form by incomplete cytokinesis, no micromeres were found in the process of division in any of the 119 embryos serially sectioned. Also, because all the ciliated micromeres in the fully differentiated larva are connected by cytoplasmic bridges, it is assumed that the bridges must arise by fusion of the micromeres after they have formed. All bridges are filled by the proteinaceous plugged junction characteristic of hexactinellid sponges, and although no plugs in the process of being formed were found, it is assumed that plugs arise from the Golgi apparatus, as occurs in aggregates and adult sponges (Pavans de Ceccatty and Mackie 1982; Mackie and Singla 1983), and are then inserted into the cytoplasmic bridge.
Two pieces of evidence strongly suggest that the plugs within these junctions are indeed protein insertions within cytoplasmic bridges as described by Mackie and Singla (1983; reviewed in Leys 2003b) and not locally juxtaposed membranes of distinct cells with membrane proteins such as form a gap junction. First, some extremely large plugs (up to 5 µm) appear to form a barrier that severs the halves of an otherwise continuous cytoplasmic unit (Leys 2003a). Second, cytoplasmic bridges that link newly formed micromeres in the embryo are long and show clear continuity of the plasma membrane of the 2 "cells" through the bridge (for example, Fig. 2H and I).
Cellular differentiation and gastrulation
The early differentiation of the blastomeres into micromeres and macromeres separates the future cellular and syncytial lineages during early development in O. minuta. The micromeres give rise to the multiciliated cells that the larva swims with, to the collar cells of the larva's nonflagellated chambers, and also to the multinucleate sclerocytes. The macromeres, and not the micromeres, form the outer epithelium of the larva, and this epithelium is continuous with the multinucleate trabecular tissue that runs throughout the embryo. The early separation of sclerocytes from multiciliated cells and collar bodies (branched choanocytes) supports an early distinction of ciliated and skeletogenic cell lines such as is thought to exist in many sponges—a feature that has been suggested to demonstrate the common ancestry of metazoans (Minchin 1909; Borojevic 1970; reviewed in Leys 2004).
As in other Porifera, the processes that occur during reaggregation of dissociated tissue appear to be analogous to those that occur during embryogenic development (Wilson 1907; Brien 1937; Curtis 1962; Borojevic and Lévi 1965; Korotkova 1970; Bagby 1972; Van de Vyver and Buscema 1981). Fusion of macromeres in the embryo is remarkably similar to the fusion of dissociated portions of the trabecular tissue seen during in vitro reaggregation experiments on another glass sponge, Rhabdocalyptus dawsoni (Pavans de Ceccatty 1982; Leys 1995). Viewed with video microscopy, the formation of syncytia during reaggregation begins with the interaction of lamellipodial membranes for a brief period (15 min), followed by the almost "instant" fusion of membranes (5 min) and subsequent continuity of cytoplasm, seen by the streaming of cytoplasm between the 2 formerly separate pieces. Thin sections of such aggregates show that they contain the multinucleated tissue that is wrapped around—and has cytoplasmic bridges with—cellular components.
The mechanism by which the outer epithelium forms is to our knowledge unique in the Metazoa. Earlier work claimed that gastrulation occurs by delamination when the micromeres form at the periphery of the embryo (Boury-Esnault and others 1999). However, we now suggest that epithelialization of the embryo by the syncytial tissue could be considered to be the moment of gastrulation, as it results in placing the future larval (and adult) epithelium on the outside and moving the future feeding (pumping) cells, choanocytes, inward, as in some hydroid cnidarians (Cherdantsev and Krauss 1996). This process could be construed as a type of epiboly. Interestingly, the orientation of these 2 layers—epithelium and pumping/feeding cells—does not invert at metamorphosis in the glass sponge, as it does in most demosponges (S.P.L., manuscript in preparation).
Implications for basal metazoan phylogeny
What can we infer from the development of glass sponges about relationships among major sponge clades? As glass sponges are cellular during early development, it is most likely that they derived from a cellular stock of siliceous organisms, as perceived by Reid (1963). Given their basal position within the Metazoa, the broader impact of this finding is that the ancestral metazoan was cellular, not syncytial as has been sometimes advocated in the past (Hadzi 1953). This finding also does not support the proposed separation of cellular and syncytial sponges into subphyla Symplasma and Cellularia (Reiswig and Mackie 1983). Because cleavage patterns and modes of gastrulation can be evolutionarily modified (sometimes even within the same genus), fusion of blastomeres on its own could be considered a modification of the types of gastrulation found in other sponges. Nonetheless, the fact that no other animal (including other sponges) forms syncytial tissues in this way or is largely constructed of syncytial tissues does distinguish the group. In both demosponges and calcareous sponges, early embryos may have multinucleate blastomeres (Franzen 1988; Saller 1988), as is the case in select groups of many other metazoans (Gilbert and Raunio 1997), but to the best of our knowledge, glass sponge embryos present the only case in which individual blastomeres fuse to form multinucleate tissues.
Although we might imagine that molecular sequence data in the end will provide the "final word" on basal metazoan phylogenies, for the moment deep branching points remain difficult to resolve (see, for example, Rodrigo and others 1994; Manuel and others 2003). Morphological data is also limited, but glass sponges have enough unusual characteristics to make firm decisions as to higher taxonomy difficult. They share with demosponges a siliceous skeleton (for example, Sandford 2003) and similar cells in the larva that begin silica deposition (Leys 2003a). They differ from other siliceous sponges in having spicules with cubic (6-rayed) symmetry and a square proteinaceous axial filament, and from all other sponges (and most animals) in forming syncytial tissues by fusion of blastomeres early during development, in lacking contractile tissues and motile cells (amoebocytes), in possessing perforate plugged junctions (a junction most similar to algal pit plugs; Pueschel 1989) (Reiswig and Mackie 1983), and in the unusual organization of their cytoskeleton, which functions in intrasyncytial nutrient transport (Leys 1995).
Siliceous sponges likely share a common cellular, siliceous ancestor, but the 2 groups diverged from each other very long ago. At present there are insufficient data to support the separation of Hexactinellida from Demospongiae and Calcispongiae at the subphylum level, or to unify them completely with Demospongiae in a clade Silicea. We opt to retain their distinction in the class Hexactinellida until further data can conclusively sway the argument.
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This article has benefited from useful criticism by R. D. Burke, G. O. Mackie, H. M. Reiswig, and A. Collins. We thank C. Jalong, J. Vacelet, and N. Lauzon for help collecting specimens and the director and staff at the Station Marine d'Endoume, where portions of this work were carried out.
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From the symposium "The New Microscopy: Toward a Phylogenetic Synthesis" presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 4–8, 2005, at San Diego, California.
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References |
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