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Malpighian tubules in harvestmen

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Abstract

In arachnids, the Malpighian tubules (MTs), coxal glands and stercoral pockets are capable of collecting and removing excreta from the body. The presence of the MTs among Opiliones was evidenced for the first time in Amilenus aurantiacus in 2015. Individuals undergo a winter diapause subterranean habitats. Here, we provided the morphological and cytological description of the MTs and asked whether their structure and ultrastructure change during the winter diapause. We studied the changes using light and transmission electron microscopy. The MTs consisted of the ureter and a pair of long, lateral blind-ended tubules, forming a long loop in the opisthosoma, and a coiled, terminal ball in the prosoma. The MTs were uniform, composed of a single-cell type, a monolayer of cuboidal epithelial cells, and the basal lamina. The cell ultrastructure was quite comparable to those in other arthropods, except for very long infoldings of the basal membrane protruding close to the nucleus. Except for spherite exploitation, no changes were observed in the ultrastructure of the MT epithelial cells during overwintering. We suggest that the analogous MTs in A. aurantiacus, and the nephron anatomies, along with a single-cell-type MT epithelium, might be of advantage in modelled studies of the nephron.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Elisabeth Bock und Rudi Schmied (Medical University Graz) for their excellent technical assistance. Michelle Gadpaille valuably improved the English of the manuscript. Helpful suggestions of the Editor and Reviewers are highly appreciated.

Funding

This study was partly supported by the Slovenian Research Agency within the Biodiversity Research Programme (Grant No. P1-0078) and by grant ‘Infrastrukturni program’ University of Maribor (IP-0552).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska ulica 8, SI-2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Saška Lipovšek

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, SI-2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Saška Lipovšek, Peter Kozel & Tone Novak

  3. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Smetanova ulica 17, University of Maribor, SI-2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Saška Lipovšek

  4. Gottfried Schatz Research Center, Division of Cell Biology, Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstrasse 6, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Saška Lipovšek & Gerd Leitinger

  5. ZRC SAZU Karst Research Institute, Novi trg 2, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Peter Kozel

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  1. Saška Lipovšek
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Contributions

SL and TN designed the study and wrote the original draft. SL, TN and PK acquired light microscopy images. SL and GL acquired TEM images. All the authors revised and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Saška Lipovšek.

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Handling Editor: Handling Editor: Margit Pavelka

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Highlights

• Malpighian tubules (MTs) are described for the first time in Opiliones

• In Amilenus, the MTs consist of the ureter and a pair of long, blind-ended tubules

• The MTs are unitary over the whole length, composed of a single-cell type

• Apart from the exploitation of spherites, the MTs do not change during the diapause

• The one-cell type of MT might offer some advantage in nephron modelling

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Lipovšek, S., Kozel, P., Leitinger, G. et al. Malpighian tubules in harvestmen. Protoplasma 258, 1145–1153 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-021-01634-0

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