Why are echinoderms studied in embryology?

Answer 1

because their embryos are convinient to study

- each female have millions of eggs that can be fertilized in vitro

- embryos at 48h of development forms a small larvae with all major organs formed : nerve cells, guts, mesodermal squeletton, imune cells etc ...

This is a great advantage, lots of experiments can be done in a short time

- synchronous development : each egg fertlised at a given time and at a given temperature will develop at the very same rate, so lots and lots of camprable embryos can be observed in each experiment (not the same with mouse)

- they are transparent thus easyly observable under a microscope, well suited for all forms of stainings

- Scientists have tools to perform loss and gain of function (shut down or overexpress a specific gene during development)

- Genome of an American specie (S Purpuratus)is fully sequenced, other species will soon have their genome sequenced as well

- They are non chordate deuterostomes. This makes urchins in an evolutionary point of view much closer cousins to human than drosophila (fly) which is as well extensively studied in embryology - roughly : results found in sea urchin may be more likely to reflect a situation found in vertebrates than those found in drosophila

etc etc ...

one major drawback of sea urchins is that its long life cycle (env 2 years) cannot permit the generation of mutant strains (no genetic tools like in mouse zebrafish or drosophila)

Answer 2

Echinoderms are studied in embryology because they have unique developmental processes that provide insights into evolutionary relationships and development of other organisms. Their regenerative abilities and symmetry patterns also make them valuable subjects for studying basic biological processes. Additionally, echinoderms are considered to be evolutionary links between invertebrates and vertebrates, providing valuable information about early development in animals.