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Article: Tunic phagocytes are involved in allorejection reaction in the colonial tunicate Aplidium yamazii (Polyclinidae, Ascidiacea).(Report)
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- April 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
Colony specificity (allogeneic recognition between colonies) has been reported in many colonial organisms, such as sponges, hydrozoans, corals, bryozoans, and ascidians. Its occurrence is usually manifested by fusibility, or the lack thereof, between colonies: two colonies either form a single mass (fusion) or do not fuse (rejection) when they come into contact. Colony specificity is thought to be one of the fundamental systems that maintains colonial individuality. In many colonial ascidians, the occurrence of colony specificity has been demonstrated by means of the colony contact assay (Mukai and Watanabe, 1974; Saito et al., 1994). In contrast, ...