Research on evolution of larval skeleton in sea urchin: Echinometridae

Research Project

Project/Area Number	13839008
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	生物多様性・分類
Research Institution	KYOTO UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	WADA Hiroshi KYOTO UNIVERSITY, Field Science Education and Research center, Assistant Professor, フィールド科学教育研究センター, 助手 (60303806)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	SHIRAYAMA Yoshihisa KYOTO UNIVERSITY, Field Science Education and Research center, Professor, フィールド科学教育研究センター, 教授 (60171055)
Project Period (FY)	2001 – 2003
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2003)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000) Fiscal Year 2003: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000) Fiscal Year 2002: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000) Fiscal Year 2001: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Keywords	Sea urchin / Echinometridae / larval skeleton / evolution / molecular phylogeny / 第一次間充織細胞 / 幼生骨片 / 小割球 / 比重 / 分布深度 / 幼生 / プランクトン / 骨格形態 / ミトコンドリアDNA / ND1 / ND2
Research Abstract	To understand the morphological variety of larval skeletons within the Echinometridae, a detailed comparative study was performed, which included quantitative morphometry. In order to extract skeletal characters which are stable in four-armed pluteus stage, we compare skeletal characters of two-day-old larvae (prior to feeding) with those of larvae fed for a few days. By this way, we found five skeletal characters of body-skeleton are stable four-armed pluteus. Morphological variations among the Echinometridae species were summarized as the difference in the number of spine and posteroventral transverse rod, and those in the shape of body-skeleton, and we found that based on these characters species can be identified from larval skeleton. Significant correlation can be detected between skeletal characters, such as between lower body length and number of spines, and between upper body length and posteroventral transverse rod length. We have also performed molecular phylogenetic analyses for 15 species of Echinometridae, together with some experiments on functional aspects of larval morphology.