Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence: Emmanuelle Renard emmanuelle. Given the developmental, histological, ecological, and genomic differences between the four sponge classes Demospongiae, Calcarea, Homoscleromorpha, and Hexactinellida , we have been developing the Oscarella lobularis Porifera, class Homoscleromorpha model over the past 15 years.
Here, we report a new step forward by inducing, producing, and maintaining in vitro thousands of clonal buds that now make possible various downstream applications. This study provides a full description of bud morphology, physiology, cells and tissues, from their formation to their development into juveniles, using adapted cell staining protocols. We describe a technique for triggering asexual reproduction by budding in vitro and have monitored bud development.
The natural properties of Oscarella lobularis buds and the technical tools we developed make them a new biological system for getting insights into sponge molecular and cellular processes. Ctenophora and Porifera are currently the two best candidates as sister groups of all other extant animals Daley and Antcliffe ; Erives and Fritzsch ; Laumer et al.
Accordingly, they can provide clues to understand the features held by the last common ancestor of Metazoa, and to conceive the early evolution of animal body plans, including the evolution of cell types, of body axes, and of master regulator genes involved King and Rokas ; Renard, Le Bivic, and Borchiellini ; Schenkelaars et al.
In addition, several studies suggested a higher conservation of some bilaterian genes in homoscleromorphs in comparison to other sponge classes Gazave, Guillou, and Balavoine ; Renard et al.
