Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals
As the closest unicellular relatives of animals, choanoflagellates serve as useful model organisms for understanding the evolution of animal multicellularity. An important factor in animal evolution was the increasing ocean oxygen levels in the Precambrian, which are thought to have influenced the e...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2016-11-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/18109 |
| _version_ | 1811200438125461504 |
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| author | Julius B Kirkegaard Ambre Bouillant Alan O Marron Kyriacos C Leptos Raymond E Goldstein |
| author_facet | Julius B Kirkegaard Ambre Bouillant Alan O Marron Kyriacos C Leptos Raymond E Goldstein |
| author_sort | Julius B Kirkegaard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As the closest unicellular relatives of animals, choanoflagellates serve as useful model organisms for understanding the evolution of animal multicellularity. An important factor in animal evolution was the increasing ocean oxygen levels in the Precambrian, which are thought to have influenced the emergence of complex multicellular life. As a first step in addressing these conditions, we study here the response of the colony-forming choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta to oxygen gradients. Using a microfluidic device that allows spatio-temporal variations in oxygen concentrations, we report the discovery that S. rosetta displays positive aerotaxis. Analysis of the spatial population distributions provides evidence for logarithmic sensing of oxygen, which enhances sensing in low oxygen neighborhoods. Analysis of search strategy models on the experimental colony trajectories finds that choanoflagellate aerotaxis is consistent with stochastic navigation, the statistics of which are captured using an effective continuous version based on classical run-and-tumble chemotaxis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:04:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8416722a0faf4ba199e28cbb3a7a79c5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:04:32Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-8416722a0faf4ba199e28cbb3a7a79c52022-12-22T03:52:35ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2016-11-01510.7554/eLife.18109Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animalsJulius B Kirkegaard0Ambre Bouillant1Alan O Marron2Kyriacos C Leptos3Raymond E Goldstein4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2645-0598Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomAs the closest unicellular relatives of animals, choanoflagellates serve as useful model organisms for understanding the evolution of animal multicellularity. An important factor in animal evolution was the increasing ocean oxygen levels in the Precambrian, which are thought to have influenced the emergence of complex multicellular life. As a first step in addressing these conditions, we study here the response of the colony-forming choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta to oxygen gradients. Using a microfluidic device that allows spatio-temporal variations in oxygen concentrations, we report the discovery that S. rosetta displays positive aerotaxis. Analysis of the spatial population distributions provides evidence for logarithmic sensing of oxygen, which enhances sensing in low oxygen neighborhoods. Analysis of search strategy models on the experimental colony trajectories finds that choanoflagellate aerotaxis is consistent with stochastic navigation, the statistics of which are captured using an effective continuous version based on classical run-and-tumble chemotaxis.https://elifesciences.org/articles/18109choanoflagellatesaerotaxisS. rosetta |
| spellingShingle | Julius B Kirkegaard Ambre Bouillant Alan O Marron Kyriacos C Leptos Raymond E Goldstein Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals eLife choanoflagellates aerotaxis S. rosetta |
| title | Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals |
| title_full | Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals |
| title_fullStr | Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals |
| title_short | Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals |
| title_sort | aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals |
| topic | choanoflagellates aerotaxis S. rosetta |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/18109 |
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