-ANVÄND NATURVETENSKAP / APPLYING SCIENCE-
Alexander Alsén
RESEARCH
Acoels represent the earliest extant branch from the early bilaterian stem. As such they offer important insights into the evolutionary events that laid the groundwork for all bilaterian animals.
A defining factor for bilaterian animals is the nervous system. Only with a bilaterian symmetry can the process of cephalisation begin, a process that 600 million years later would lead to your brain.
Acoel Nervous System regeneration
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Acoels show a regenerative capabilities that differ within the group. Whatever conclusions we can draw from the regenerative machinery of Acoels can be applied to the question of ancestral regeneration.
Planarians are somewhat well studied in this field and that information can be compared to the (morphologically) similar, but unrelated, Acoels.
A point of interest are the migratory stem-cells: the Neoblasts.
This work is done in collaboration with Jamie Morrison, Stockholm university.
Acoel Nervous System structure
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Diffrent Acoels have had separate centralisations of nervous system from a simple Ur-Acoel without a centralised brain. Thus the acoel "Brain" is not homologous with that of other animal brains, and only to a limited extent within the phyla.
What we find out about the nervous system organisation in Acoela has implications on our understanding of the principles of nervous system evolution in Metazoa.