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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

What if horizontal ellipsis Sponges Originated 890 Million Years Ago? On the Emergence of Some Precursors of Animal Sentience

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Author(s):
Andrade, Michaella P. [1] ; Santos, Daubian [1] ; Bueno, Gabriel M. [1] ; Santos, Charles Morphy D. [1]
Total Authors: 4
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Fed ABC, Ctr Ciencias Nat & Humanas, Lab Sistemat & Diversidade, Av Estados 5001, BR-09210580 Santo Andre, SP - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 1
Document type: Journal article
Source: Evolutionary Biology; v. 48, n. 4 SEP 2021.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

The recently described 890-million-year-old sponge fossil illuminates the early evolutionary path to the emergence of animal sentience. A sentient animal is aware of feelings and sensations due to the activity of a nervous system. Indirect markers suggest that the foundations of sentience originated hundreds of millions of years before the Cambrian. If the first neuron was a sensory cell, the presence of epithelial ``neural stem cells{''} in ancient Porifera may have been the ancestral state of the nerve cell that appeared in Eumetazoa. In addition, sponges have neurotransmitters, such as Glutamate and GABA, and other molecular markers, such as EflMsiA, Piezo ion channel and Notch. If the 890-million-year-old fossil is identified as a sponge, the emergence of the buiding blocks of sentience among animals began much earlier than previously thought. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 17/16305-6 - Systematics, biogeography, and phylogenetic diversity of Tipulomorpha, with emphasis in the subfamily Chioneinae (Diptera: Limoniidae)
Grantee:Daubian Santos
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate