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Article: Continued growth and cell proliferation into adulthood in the notochord of the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica.(Author abstract)
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- February 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Marine Biological Laboratory. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction
The subphylum Urochordata (or Tunicata) of the phylum Chordata includes three classes: Ascidiacea, Thaliacea, and Appendicularia. Urochordate species exhibit diverse forms, including free-swimming, sessile, and colonial. In most urochordates the larva has a chordate body plan with a trunk or head region and a motile tail containing a notochord and a dorsal nerve cord (Katz, 1983; Meinertzhagen and Okamura, 2001). Ascidians, represented by the most studied of the urochordates, Ciona intestinalis, undergo a metamorphosis from a free-swimming larva into a solitary sessile adult. The metamorphic transition involves the loss of tail structures, including ...