Somatic Expression Of Stemness Genes In Aquatic Invertebrates
Abstract
Adult stem cells (ASCs) of aquatic invertebrates are involved in important biological processes such as regeneration and asexual reproduction. Unlike vertebrates, they share pluripotency and even totipotency and do not reside in permanent niches. Aquatic invertebrates represent the widest phylogenetic animal radiation on Earth but, up to now, limited research data are available on their ASCs. Although less studied than their vertebrate counterparts, aquatic invertebrate ASCs express orthologues of many vertebrate genes usually associated with stemness. With this review, we aim at providing a data base for current and future studies on ASC properties through a comprehensive literature analysis of intra- and inter-phylum comparisons for gene expressions and their functions in aquatic invertebrate ASCs. We concentrate on major gene families where sufficient data are available; gaps in our results will be filled by future studies on ASCs of aquatic invertebrates.
