Evolutionary Significance of the Hormone Recognition Capacity in Unicellular Organisms. Development of Hormone Receptors

Csaba, G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-80106-8_1

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Protozoa also have cell-surface signal receptors that recognize vertebrate and plant hormones as varied as polypeptides, cytokines, indolacetic acid, and opiates (Csaba, 1996). These vertebrate and plant signal molecules can promote chemotaxis (Köhidai et al, 1994), phagocytosis (Rabinovitch and De Stefano, 1971;Renaud et al, 1995), and other responses (Kovaács et al, 1997).…”

Section: Microbial Signalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The chemical defense ecology of marine unicellular plankton: constraints, mechanisms, and impacts

Wolfe

2000

The Biological Bulletin

234

178

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The activities of unicellular microbes dominate the ecology of the marine environment, but the chemical signals that determine behavioral interactions are poorly known. In particular, chemical signals between microbial predators and prey contribute to food selection or avoidance and to defense, factors that probably affect trophic structure and such large-scale features as algal blooms. Using defense as an example, I consider physical constraints on the transmission of chemical information, and strategies and mechanisms that microbes might use to send chemical signals. Chemical signals in a low Re, viscosity-dominated physical environment are transferred by molecular diffusion and laminar advection, and may be perceived at nanomolar levels or lower. Events that occur on small temporal and physical scales in the "near-field" of prey are likely to play a role in cell-cell interactions. On the basis of cost-benefit optimization and the need for rapid activation, I suggest that microbial defense system strategies might be highly dynamic. These strategies include compartmented and activated reactions, utilizing both pulsed release of dissolved signals and contact-activated signals at the cell surface. Bioluminescence and extrusome discharge are two visible manifestations of rapidly activated microbial defenses that may serve as models for other chemical reactions as yet undetected due to the technical problems of measuring transient chemical gradients around single cells. As an example, I detail an algal dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) cleavage reaction that appears to deter protozoan feeding and explore it as a possible model for a rapidly activated, short-range chemical defense system. Although the exploration of chemical interactions among planktonic microbes is in its infancy, ecological models from macroorganisms provide useful hints of the complexity likely to be found.

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Section: Microbial Signalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The chemical defense ecology of marine unicellular plankton: constraints, mechanisms, and impacts

Wolfe

2000

The Biological Bulletin

234

178

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“…However, the argument can be countered. A free-living cell may require little cellto-cell signaling, but it may still use many molecular signals (or technically, cues) for controlling rate of reproduction, detecting and orienting toward food, avoiding toxic substances and predators, and so on (e.g., Csaba 1996;Rasmussen et al 1996;Christensen et al 1998). In other words, it is not obvious that a protist needs fewer molecule-sized parts than, for example, a metazoan cell, keeping in mind that the relevant datum is number of part per cell, not number for the whole metazoan.…”

Section: Alternative Evolutionary Interpretationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Complexity Drain on Cells in the Evolution of Multicellularity

McShea¹

2002

Evolution

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Abstract. A hypothesis has been advanced recently predicting that, in evolution, as higher-level entities arise from associations of lower-level organisms, and as these entities acquire the ability to feed, reproduce, defend themselves, and so on, the lower-level organisms will tend to lose much of their internal complexity (McShea 2001a). In other words, in hierarchical transitions, there is a drain on numbers of part types at the lower level. One possible rationale is that the transfer of functional demands to the higher level renders many part types at the lower level useless, and thus their loss in evolution is favored by selection for economy. Here, a test is conducted at the cell level, comparing numbers of part types in free-living eukaryotic cells (protists) and the cells of metazoans and land plants. Differences are significant and consistent with the hypothesis, suggesting that tests at other hierarchical levels may be worthwhile. Hierarchical transitions occur when a group of organisms combine to form a higher-level entity (Spencer 1904;Campbell 1958;Simon 1962;Pattee 1970;Eldredge and Salthe 1984;Salthe 1985Salthe , 1993Buss 1987;Bonner 1988;Maynard Smith 1988;Wimsatt 1994;Maynard Smith and Szathmáry 1995;McShea 1996 McShea , 2001bPettersson 1996;Valentine and May 1996;Michod 1999). In the history of life, salient examples include the origin of the eukaryotic cell from symbiotic associations of prokaryotic cells, of multicellular individuals from clones of free-living eukaryotic cells, and of colonies from associations of multicellular individuals. A hypothesis has been advanced recently that predicts that, as such transitions occur, and as the new higher-level entities acquire the ability to feed, reproduce, defend themselves, and so on, their component organisms will tend to lose many of these functional capabilities and therefore will tend to lose many of their internal parts (McShea 2001a). More precisely, the expectation is that the component organisms will tend to lose part types at the next hierarchical level down (Fig. 1). (Technical understandings of the terms part and level will be offered shortly; for present purposes, colloquial meanings suffice.)Concretely, the hypothesis predicts that the cells of multicellular organisms will have fewer part types than freeliving eukaryotic cells, that is, nonparasitic protists (hereafter simply protists; sensu Patterson 1999). At a higher level, in colonial marine invertebrates and social insects, the multicellular individuals (e.g., polyps, zooids) that constitute the more individuated colonies-that is, those in which coloniality is more highly developed (Boardman and Cheetham 1973)-should have fewer part types, on average, than those of their less colonial or solitary relatives (Beklemishev 1969). And at a lower level, the former prokaryotes that today function as organelles in eukaryotic cells (e.g., mitochondria, plastids) should have fewer part types than free-living prokaryotes.Attention to hierarchical level is crucial. A considerable body of e...

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“…Multicellular organisms use hormones as intercellular communication molecules to ensure their survival by coordinating responses necessary for adjusting to constantly changing external and internal environments (25). However, several hormones and other intercellular messengers in multicellular organisms are already found in unicells, including steroid and peptide hormones of vertebrates (26). Therefore, in terms of evolution, the idea of non‐hormonal signaling preceded that of hormonal signaling.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Melatonin: a hormone, a tissue factor, an autocoid, a paracoid, and an antioxidant vitamin

Tan¹,

Manchester²,

Hardeland³

et al. 2002

Journal of Pineal Research

484

359

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Melatonin, a derivative of an essential amino acid, tryptophan, was first identified in bovine pineal tissue and subsequently it has been portrayed exclusively as a hormone. Recently accumulated evidence has challenged this concept. Melatonin is present in the earliest life forms and is found in all organisms including bacteria, algae, fungi, plants, insects, and vertebrates including humans. Several characteristics of melatonin distinguish it from a classic hormone such as its direct, non-receptor-mediated free radical scavenging activity. As melatonin is also ingested in foodstuffs such as vegetables, fruits, rice, wheat and herbal medicines, from the nutritional point of view, melatonin can also be classified as a vitamin. It seems likely that melatonin initially evolved as an antioxidant, becoming a vitamin in the food chain, and in multicellular organisms, where it is produced, it has acquired autocoid, paracoid and hormonal properties.

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Evolutionary Significance of the Hormone Recognition Capacity in Unicellular Organisms. Development of Hormone Receptors

Cited by 10 publications

References 65 publications

The chemical defense ecology of marine unicellular plankton: constraints, mechanisms, and impacts

The chemical defense ecology of marine unicellular plankton: constraints, mechanisms, and impacts

A Complexity Drain on Cells in the Evolution of Multicellularity

Melatonin: a hormone, a tissue factor, an autocoid, a paracoid, and an antioxidant vitamin

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