Experimental evidence for the origins of determinative development in the polyclad turbellarians

Abstract

Cell-deletion experiments were carried out on the embryo of the polyclad turbellarian Hoploplana inquilina to examine further the nature of development in primitive spiralians. The polyclads are of particular interest because they provide a link between the regulative development of acoels and the determinative development of annelids and molluscs. Single blastomeres were deleted at the two- and four-cell stages by puncture through the eggshell membrane with tungsten needles. All deletions resulted in abnormal larvae with consistent characteristics representing half or three-quarter Müller's larvae. The number of larval eyes was a particularly useful character in revealing mosaicism. This study establishes the polyclad embryo as determinative, but with important cell interactions also occurring during early development, and provides evidence that mosaicism became associated with spiral cleavage in the quartet form during the evolution of the Turbellaria.