利用海绵（一种没有神经系统和肌肉组织的动物）的全身单细胞RNA测序，研究人员确定了18种不同的细胞类型。这些细胞包括对一氧化氮敏感的收缩性针状细胞、变形体吞噬细胞和分泌性神经细胞，这些细胞与表达支架和受体蛋白的消化性胆囊细胞密切接触。
通过相关的X射线和电子显微镜观察神经细胞，研究人员发现分泌囊泡和细胞突起包裹着领细胞微绒毛和纤毛。这些数据显示了一个围绕海绵消化室组织的通讯系统，并使用了保守的模块，这些模块在其他动物的神经系统中变成了前突触和后突触。
据悉，后生动物细胞类型如神经元和肌肉的进化起源并不清楚。
附：英文原文
Title: Profiling cellular diversity in sponges informs animal cell type and nervous system evolution
Author: Jacob M. Musser, Klaske J. Schippers, Michael Nickel, Giulia Mizzon, Andrea B. Kohn, Constantin Pape, Paolo Ronchi, Nikolaos Papadopoulos, Alexander J. Tarashansky, Jrg U. Hammel, Florian Wolf, Cong Liang, Ana Hernández-Plaza, Carlos P. Cantalapiedra, Kaia Achim, Nicole L. Schieber, Leslie Pan, Fabian Ruperti, Warren R. Francis, Sergio Vargas, Svenja Kling, Maike Renkert, Maxim Polikarpov, Gleb Bourenkov, Roberto Feuda, Imre Gaspar, Pawel Burkhardt, Bo Wang, Peer Bork, Martin Beck, Thomas R. Schneider, Anna Kreshuk, Gert Wrheide, Jaime Huerta-Cepas, Yannick Schwab, Leonid L. Moroz, Detlev Arendt
Issue&Volume: 2021-11-05
Abstract: The evolutionary origin of metazoan cell types such as neurons and muscles is not known. Using whole-body single-cell RNA sequencing in a sponge, an animal without nervous system and musculature, we identified 18 distinct cell types. These include nitric oxide–sensitive contractile pinacocytes, amoeboid phagocytes, and secretory neuroid cells that reside in close contact with digestive choanocytes that express scaffolding and receptor proteins. Visualizing neuroid cells by correlative x-ray and electron microscopy revealed secretory vesicles and cellular projections enwrapping choanocyte microvilli and cilia. Our data show a communication system that is organized around sponge digestive chambers, using conserved modules that became incorporated into the pre- and postsynapse in the nervous systems of other animals.
DOI: abj2949
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj2949