Endostyle

An endostyle is a longitudinal ciliated groove on the ventral wall of the pharynx which produces mucus to gather food particles. It is found in urochordates and cephalochordates, and in the larvae of lampreys. It aids in transporting food to the esophagus. The endostyle in larval lampreys (ammocetes) metamorphoses into the thyroid gland in adults, and is regarded as being homologous to the thyroid gland in vertebrates. Since the endostyle is found in the three branches of chordates, it is presumed to have arisen in the common ancestor of these taxa, along with a shift to internal feeding for extracting suspended food from the water.[1][2]

References

  1. ↑ Ogasawara, M.; N. Satoh (August 1, 1998). "Isolation and Characterization of Endostyle-Specific Genes in the Ascidian Ciona intestinalis". The Biological Bulletin. 195 (1): 60–69. doi:10.2307/1542776. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Dumont, Jacques; Opitz, R; Christophe, D; Vassart, Gilbert; Roger, P.P.; Maenhaut, C (November 30, 2011). "Ontogeny, Anatomy, Metabolism and Physiology of the Thyroid". Thyroid Disease Manager. Retrieved 21 September 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/17/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.