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Researcher: Stinging cells evolved by repurposing a neuron from an older form of life

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Specifically, the stinging cells of “sea anemones, hydrae, corals and jellyfish”:

In new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 2, Leslie Babonis, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, showed that these stinging cells evolved by repurposing a neuron inherited from a pre-cnidarian ancestor.

“These surprising results demonstrate how new genes acquire new functions to drive the evolution of biodiversity,” Babonis said. “They suggest that co-option of ancestral cell types was an important source for new cell functions during the early evolution of animals.”

Cornell University, “Jellyfish’s stinging cells hold clues to biodiversity” at ScienceDaily (May 12, 2022)

So they “repurposed” cells from an earlier ancestor to produce these cnidocytes?

“One of the unique features of cnidocytes is that they all have an explosive organelle (a little pocket inside the cell) that contains the harpoon that shoots out to sting you,” Babonis said. “These harpoons are made of a protein that is also found only in cnidarians, so cnidocytes seem to be one of the clearest examples of how the origin of a new gene (that encodes a unique protein) could drive the evolution of a new cell type.”

Cornell University, “Jellyfish’s stinging cells hold clues to biodiversity” at ScienceDaily (May 12, 2022)

It’s hard to avoid the sense of design here.

The paper is open access.

Comments
Great video. Well worth watchingjerry
May 13, 2022
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This is neither tragic or frightening. This is just the way it is. The answer must be evolution every time.relatd
May 13, 2022
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up to now, no one knew how those stem cells decide to make either a neuron or a cnidocyte. Understanding this process in living cnidarians can reveal clues about now cnidocytes evolved in the first place, Babonis said.
Up to now, we didn't know how the same cells decided to operate different functions. But now we have some clues about how that intelligent response mechanism evolved from a blind, unintelligent source. Sounds good. There's a logic-based, functional communication process:
Moreover, the researchers showed that a single cnidarian-specific regulatory gene is responsible both for turning off the neural function of those cells and turning on the cnidocyte-specific traits. Neurons and cnidocytes are similar in form, Babonis said; both are secretory cells capable of ejecting something out of the cell. Neurons secrete neuropeptides -- proteins that rapidly communicate information to other cells. Cnidocytes secrete poison-laced harpoons. "There is a single gene that acts like a light switch -- when it's on, you get a cnidocyte, when it's off you get a neuron," Babonis said. "It's a pretty simple logic for controlling cell identity."
Simple logic. If you need to communicate to the cell, fire off a neuropeptide. If you need to shoot a poison-laced harpoon against an invader that the cell has discovered, then fire a Cnidocyte. A single gene evolved that logic-based approach with an sensor (determining if invader or not) input processor, signal and variable-response function?
This is the first study to show that this logic is in place in a cnidarian, Babonis said, so this feature was likely to regulate how cells became different from each other in the earliest multicellular animals.
Earliest multicellular animals had a logic-based mechanism. Logic is a decision process - a choice among options. It's not a linear, deterministic path. So chemicals can create a logic function? There's something seriously wrong with these people. I don't find that funny or good to say. It's just tragic and frightening.Silver Asiatic
May 13, 2022
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I'm trying to imagine the billion-year random roulette wheel that happened to cause this. Let's assume for fun that the intricate structure was already randomly evolved. Now we need to evolve the direction of the explosion. 90% of all directions will go INTO the cell, killing the cell. After we get past those trials, we need to orient the harpoon on the surface of the organism. 90% of all directions will go INTO the organism itself, killing the organism. After we get past those trials, we need to learn how to use the harpoon against enemies, not wasting it on every stray water current. ....polistra
May 12, 2022
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