American biologists from Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley found where the starfish’s head is located. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature.
The starfish’s body structure, shape, and the way the animal moves along the seafloor have intrigued naturalists for centuries, as it makes it difficult to determine where the front and back parts of the star are located.
Instead of having bilateral symmetry, adult starfish and related echinoderms such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers have a fivefold axis of symmetry without a distinct head and tail. No one has been able to determine how genetic programming controls this unusual fivefold symmetry. For this reason, some scientists have suggested that living things do not have such a head.
However, the latest research has revealed that the situation is exactly the opposite. The team analyzed the starfish’s DNA and found that gene signatures associated with head development were distributed throughout the young stars’ bodies. At the same time, the expression of genes encoding the body and tail was practically absent.
Biologists also found that molecular signatures typically associated with the front of the head were located in the middle of each of the starfish’s limbs.
“HE [морскую звезду] lead author Laurent Formery said it was “best described as a head crawling along the seabed.”
Researchers say studying starfish and their relatives will not only help unravel fundamental mysteries of animal evolution but also inspire innovations in medicine.
Previous scientists named One of the starfish species poses a major threat to corals with climate change.