Hepatic caecum of amphioxus and origin of vertebrate liver  

作　　者：Shicui Zhang Zhaokang Shen Haifeng Li 

机构地区：[1]College of Life and Geographic Sciences,Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Ecology of Pamirs Plateau in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,Kashi University,Kashi 844000,China [2]Institute of Evolution&Marine Biodiversity,Ocean University of China,Qingdao 266003,China

出　　处：《Acta Oceanologica Sinica》2023年第11期1-8,共8页海洋学报（英文版）

基　　金：The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No.32270434。

摘　　要：Liver is characteristic of all vertebrates.As a critical hub for many physiological processes including metabolism,innate immunity,protein synthesis and detoxification,its evolutionary origin was largely underappreciated in history,and only received due attention in recent decades.It has been suggested by morphological,ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies that the hepatic caecum of amphioxus is homologous to the liver of vertebrate species.Molecular biology studies demonstrated that amphioxus hepatic caecum expresses plenty of vertebrate liver-specific genes.Our functional studies revealed significant similarities between amphioxus hepatic caecum and vertebrate liver.We also found that the functions of hepatic caecum are subjected to the regulation of pituitary hormones just as the liver does.These provide solid evidences supporting the notion that the hepatic caecum is the homologue of liver,which may represent the first stage in chordate evolution,laying a foundation for the subsequent formation of the liver as we know it in vertebrates.Further studies on the specification and morphogenesis of hepatic caecum in amphioxus will shed more lights on the origin and evolution of vertebrate liver.

关 键 词：protochordate AMPHIOXUS hepatic caecum LIVER evolution 

分 类 号：Q954.4[生物学—动物学]