科学通报(英文版)
科學通報(英文版)
과학통보(영문판)
CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN
2007年
22期
3029-3040
,共12页
sponge%evolution%sponge spicules%biosilica%bionics
Sponges are the oldest and the simplest but not primitive multicellular animals. They represent the earliest evolutionary metazoan phylum still extant. It was a long and painful scientific process to position the most enigmatic and mysterious metazoan, the Porifera, into their correct phylogenetic place among the eukaryotes in general and multicellular animals in particular. As living fossils, sponges provide the best evidence for the early evolution of Metazoa. More recently, interest has been focused on the bionic applications of sponges' siliceous spicules, after the discovery of their unique structure and high fiber performance. In this review, the emergence of sponges, evolutionary novelties found in sponges, and the phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution are highlighted. In addition, the pre-sent state of knowledge on silicatein-mediated "biosilica" formation in marine sponges, including the involvement of other molecules in silica metabolism and their potential application in nanobiotechnol-ogy and medicine, is given.