Placozoa
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Placozoa
The Placozoa are a basal form of marine free-living (non-parasitic) multicellular organism. They are the simplest in structure of all animals. Three genera have been found: the classical ''Trichoplax adhaerens'', ''Hoilungia hongkongensis'', and ''Polyplacotoma mediterranea'', where the last appears most basal. The last two have been found only since 2017. Although the Placozoa were first discovered in 1883 by the German zoologist Franz Eilhard Schulze (1840–1921) and since the 1970s more systematically analyzed by the German protozoologist Karl Gottlieb Grell (1912–1994), a common name does not yet exist for the taxon; the scientific name means "flat animals". Biology ''Trichoplax'' is a small, flattened, animal around across. An amorphous multi-celled body, analogous to a single-celled ''Amoeba'', it has no regular outline, although the lower surface is somewhat concave, and the upper surface is always flattened. The body consists of an outer layer of simple epithelium ...
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Placozoan Anatomy
The Placozoa are a basal form of marine free-living (non-parasitic) multicellular organism. They are the simplest in structure of all animals. Three genera have been found: the classical ''Trichoplax adhaerens'', '' Hoilungia hongkongensis'', and '' Polyplacotoma mediterranea'', where the last appears most basal. The last two have been found only since 2017. Although the Placozoa were first discovered in 1883 by the German zoologist Franz Eilhard Schulze (1840–1921) and since the 1970s more systematically analyzed by the German protozoologist Karl Gottlieb Grell (1912–1994), a common name does not yet exist for the taxon; the scientific name means "flat animals". Biology ''Trichoplax'' is a small, flattened, animal around across. An amorphous multi-celled body, analogous to a single-celled ''Amoeba'', it has no regular outline, although the lower surface is somewhat concave, and the upper surface is always flattened. The body consists of an outer layer of simple epith ...
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Placozoa
The Placozoa are a basal form of marine free-living (non-parasitic) multicellular organism. They are the simplest in structure of all animals. Three genera have been found: the classical ''Trichoplax adhaerens'', ''Hoilungia hongkongensis'', and ''Polyplacotoma mediterranea'', where the last appears most basal. The last two have been found only since 2017. Although the Placozoa were first discovered in 1883 by the German zoologist Franz Eilhard Schulze (1840–1921) and since the 1970s more systematically analyzed by the German protozoologist Karl Gottlieb Grell (1912–1994), a common name does not yet exist for the taxon; the scientific name means "flat animals". Biology ''Trichoplax'' is a small, flattened, animal around across. An amorphous multi-celled body, analogous to a single-celled ''Amoeba'', it has no regular outline, although the lower surface is somewhat concave, and the upper surface is always flattened. The body consists of an outer layer of simple epithelium ...
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Trichoplax Adhaerens
''Trichoplax adhaerens'' is one of the three named species in the phylum Placozoa. The others are ''Hoilungia hongkongensis'' and ''Polyplacotoma mediterranea''. The Placozoa is a basal group of multicellular animals (metazoa). ''Trichoplax'' are very flat organisms around a millimetre in diameter, lacking any organs or internal structures. They have two cellular layers: the top epitheloid layer is made of ciliated «cover cells» flattened toward the outside of the organism, and the bottom layer is made up of cylinder cells that possess cilia used in locomotion, and gland cells that lack cilia. Between these layers is the fibre syncytium, a liquid-filled cavity strutted open by star-like fibres. ''Trichoplax'' feed by absorbing food particles—mainly microbes—with their underside. They generally reproduce asexually, by dividing or budding, but can also reproduce sexually. Though ''Trichoplax'' has a small genome in comparison to other animals, nearly 87% of its 11,514 predi ...
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Trichoplacidae
''Trichoplax adhaerens'' is one of the three named species in the phylum Placozoa. The others are '' Hoilungia hongkongensis'' and '' Polyplacotoma mediterranea''. The Placozoa is a basal group of multicellular animals (metazoa). ''Trichoplax'' are very flat organisms around a millimetre in diameter, lacking any organs or internal structures. They have two cellular layers: the top epitheloid layer is made of ciliated «cover cells» flattened toward the outside of the organism, and the bottom layer is made up of cylinder cells that possess cilia used in locomotion, and gland cells that lack cilia. Between these layers is the fibre syncytium, a liquid-filled cavity strutted open by star-like fibres. ''Trichoplax'' feed by absorbing food particles—mainly microbes—with their underside. They generally reproduce asexually, by dividing or budding, but can also reproduce sexually. Though ''Trichoplax'' has a small genome in comparison to other animals, nearly 87% of its 11,514 ...
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Hoilungia Hongkongensis
''Hoilungia hongkongensis'' is a species in the phylum Placozoa. The organism appears superficially similar to ''Trichoplax adhaerens'', but genetic analysis of its mitochondrial DNA shows numerous differences. It was discovered in brackish water from mangrove swamps in Hong Kong. These organisms are generally found in the biofilm surfaces in tropical and subtropical environments. Phylogenetically, they are placed closest to cnidarians. They are diploblastic animals and are believed to have dorso-ventral polarity along top and bottom body layers. Their body is overtly similar to oral-aboral axis of cnidarians. They feed from lower tissue layer which has various peptidergic gland cells. They feed on algae, bacteria, yeast and other byproducts of biofilms. They reproduce asexually through binary fission and there is also some evidence of sexual reproduction. The ''Hoilungia hongkongensis'' genome adds support to the phylogenetic placement of the Placozoa in the animal tree of life ...
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Polyplacotoma Mediterranea
''Polyplacotoma mediterranea'' is a species in the phylum Placozoa The Placozoa are a basal form of marine free-living (non-parasitic) multicellular organism. They are the simplest in structure of all animals. Three genera have been found: the classical ''Trichoplax adhaerens'', '' Hoilungia hongkongensis'', a ..., only representative of the genus ''Polyplacotoma''. They differ greatly from other species of placozoans with regards to their morphology and genetic makeup. ''P. mediterranea'' has the smallest mitogenome, the lowest GC content, and the smallest intergenic spacer regions of all placozoans. Their bodily structure consists of elongated polytomous body branches, as well as a maximum size that is greater than 10 mm in length. The mitochondrial genome of ''Polyplacotoma mediterranea'' is also very compact and contains overlapping protein and tRNA gene codes.Miyazawa, H., Osigus, H., Rolfes, S., Kamm, K., Schierwater, B., & Nakano, H. (2020). Mitochondrial Genome Evol ...
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Karl Gottlieb Grell
Karl Gottlieb Grell (28 December 1912, Burg an der Wupper – 4 October 1994) was a German zoologist and protistologist, famous for his work on ''Trichoplax''. Karl Grell received in 1934 his doctorate (Promotion) from the University of Bonn, where he wrote his dissertation on the digestive tract of the common scorpionfly (''Panorpa communis''). Subsequently, he worked primarily on unicellular eukaryotes and the metazoan Placozoa. During WW II, he was assigned to an anti-malarial unit in southeast Europe. At the University of Tübingen, Grell was a professor of zoology, teaching protozoology and genetics. He led excursions to study marine protozoa. Grell published in 1956 the first edition of his textbook ''Protozoologie'', which was followed by a German language 2nd edition in 1968 and a 3rd edition (1st English edition) in 1973. From 1959 to 1983 he was a co-editor for the ''Archiv for Protistenkunde''. In addition to his work on ''Trichoplax'', he was known for his research ...
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Endosymbiont
An ''endosymbiont'' or ''endobiont'' is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship. (The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον ''endon'' "within", σύν ''syn'' "together" and βίωσις ''biosis'' "living".) Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (called rhizobia), which live in the root nodules of legumes, single-cell algae inside reef-building corals and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to insects. There are two types of symbiont transmissions. In horizontal transmission, each new generation acquires free living symbionts from the environment. An example is the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in certain plant roots. Vertical transmission takes place when the symbiont is transferred directly from parent to offspring. It is also possible for both to be involved in a mixed-mode transmission, where symbionts are transferred vertically for some generation bef ...
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Algivore
Algae eater or algivore is a common name for any bottom-dwelling or filter-feeding aquatic animal species that specialize in feeding on algae and phytoplanktons. Algae eaters are important for the fishkeeping hobby and many are commonly kept by aquarium hobbyists to improve water quality. They are also important primary consumers that relay the biomass and energy from photosynthetic autotrophes up into the food web, as well as protecting the aquatic ecosystem against algae blooms. Freshwater Fish Some of the common and most popular freshwater aquarium algae eaters include: * Many loricariid catfish of South America, such as genera ''Otocinclus'', ''Ancistrus'', and ''Plecostomus'', constantly graze algae and biofilm, although many species of "plecos", which attain an adult length of over 10 inches, eat much less frequently as they near adulthood. * The Siamese algae eater (''Crossocheilus oblongus'') is a more gregarious and tolerant cyprinid that ranges up to . It is one of th ...
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Sodium Channel
Sodium channels are integral membrane proteins that form ion channels, conducting sodium ions (Na+) through a cell's membrane. They belong to the superfamily of cation channels and can be classified according to the trigger that opens the channel for such ions, i.e. either a voltage-change ("voltage-gated", "voltage-sensitive", or "voltage-dependent" sodium channel; also called "VGSCs" or "Nav channel") or a binding of a substance (a ligand) to the channel (ligand-gated sodium channels). In excitable cells such as neurons, myocytes, and certain types of glia, sodium channels are responsible for the rising phase of action potentials. These channels go through three different states called resting, active and inactive states. Even though the resting and inactive states would not allow the ions to flow through the channels the difference exists with respect to their structural conformation. Selectivity Sodium channels are highly selective for the transport of ions across cell membr ...
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