• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

This Worm’s Rear End Sprouts Eyes And Swims Off When It’s Time To Mate

November 22, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

When it’s time for Megasyllis nipponica to spawn, its butt swims off. Technically called a stolon, the annelid worm’s rear end sprouts eyes and swimming equipment to depart the adult body on which it developed and go in search of the opposite sex.

These worms have adapted an approach to reproduction that sees them jettison their rear end, a segment that’s equipped with gonads, so that it can go it alone to spawn in a process known as stolonization. With eyes, antennae, and swimming bristles, the detached stolon can swim autonomously, leaving its gonadless body in the dust.

Advertisement

It’s a bizarre life cycle that’s had scientists scratching their heads. How does the “head” of the stolon develop in the mid-body of the adult worm? Researchers decided to find out by combining histological and morphological observations to see in what order the changes took place, and what mechanisms could be driving them.

Their investigations revealed that the first step involves the formation of gonads at the worm’s butt end. Next comes the stolon’s “head” which develops in the worm’s midriff, the place where eventually the stolon will detach itself. The stolon holds on long enough to develop nerves and a “brain” that enables it to sense and react autonomously. 



The next step was to dive into the gene expression that could be driving this transformation from the rear end of a worm to a self-driving gamete delivery service. The team discovered that a group of head formation genes that are well documented in the head regions of other animals was found at the point on the worms’ bodies where their stolon’s “head” would develop.

Advertisement

It seems the expression of these genes is associated with gonad development in M. nipponica. “This shows how normal developmental processes are modified to fit the life history of animals with unique reproductive styles,” explained study lead Professor Toru Miura from the University of Tokyo in a statement.

As for why the stolon developed a “head” but no body (it doesn’t have a digestive tract, for instance), it seems this may be to do with the expression of genes that remain active even while the rear body segment of the worm is getting ready to go solo.

the process of stolonization

The top illustration shows staging based on morphological characteristics. The lower bands show the transitions in gene expressions upregulated in anterior (blue) and posterior (orange) body parts.

Image credit: Nakamura et al 2023 (CC BY 4.0)

“Interestingly, the expressions of Hox genes that determine body-part identity were constant during the process,” continued Miura. “This indicates that only the head part is induced at the posterior body part to control spawning behavior for reproduction.”  

The team will continue their work into sex determination and endocrine regulation in syllid worms like M. nipponica (and the many-butted King Ghidorah worm), but this marks the first time we’ve been able to crack how these worms’ butts swim off and spawn without their bodies. Suddenly dating apps don’t seem so messed up.

Advertisement

The study is published in Scientific Reports.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Paris ramps up security as jihadist attacks trial starts
  2. Cricket-‘Western bloc’ has let Pakistan down, board chief says
  3. Ancient Bison Found In Permafrost Is So Well Preserved Scientists Want To Clone It
  4. Where Inside Us Do We Feel Love?

Source Link: This Worm’s Rear End Sprouts Eyes And Swims Off When It’s Time To Mate

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • How Fast Were Dinosaurs? Guineafowl Races Reveal They Were Probably Slower Than We Thought
  • New Claim For World’s Oldest Rocks Dates Back A Whopping 4.16 Billion Years
  • Pre-Inca Temple Was A “Ritual Gateway” To Lost Civilization Of Tiwanaku
  • NASA Study Gave Illegal Drugs To Spiders And Watched What Happened To Their Webs
  • Space Selfies & DJing A Party From Orbit – How Astronaut Luca Parmitano Brought Space To Earth
  • Regardless Of Political Affiliation, Most US Adults Actually Support Vaccine Requirements For Kids
  • Now Is The Perfect Time To See The “Summer Triangle”
  • Can A Brain Be Preserved And Uploaded? Neuroscientist Survey Reveals “Surprising” 40 Percent Probability That Yes, It Could
  • You Could Be The First Ever Human To See A Specific Galaxy In This Incredible Space Video
  • First Pieces Of The Planet Mercury May Have Been Found On Earth After “Longstanding Mystery”
  • “Miracle” Bioplastic Reflects 99 Percent Of Sun’s Rays, Massively Reducing Building Energy Use
  • Are These 2 African Gray Parrots The Only Non-Human Animals To Ever Ask A Question?
  • How Forensic Scientists Are Reconstructing Faces Using DNA Found At Crime Scenes
  • New Non-Invasive Option For Treating Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer In A Single Session
  • Evolution Running Backwards? That’s What This Unlikely Organism Appears To Be Doing
  • How Did The Starfish Become A Star? 500-Million-Year-Old Fossil Solves Evolutionary Mystery
  • JWST Has Discovered Its First Exoplanet – And It’s A Baby Saturn-Sized One!
  • Rare “Moonwalking” Killer Whale Behavior Hides Much More Gory Truth
  • Dead Pulsars Are Emitting Radio Waves. Massive “Mountains” Measuring 1 Centimeter Tall Could Be To Blame
  • 40,000-Year-Old Mammoth Ivory Boomerang And Human Finger Hint At Mysterious Prehistoric Rituals
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version