Jump to content

Eutely

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 2620:0:1000:2510:84b9:3f43:d32e:3d2a (talk) at 21:11, 29 June 2016. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A mature gastrotrich, with visible cells on the surface. Further growth will now occur solely by cell enlargement.

Eutelic organisms have a fixed number of somatic cells when they reach maturity, the exact number being constant for any one species. Development proceeds by cell division until maturity; further growth occurs via cell enlargement only. In nematodes the number of nuclei is also constant; there is growth in size of the body but this is due to the growth in the size of the cells (hypertrophy).

Most eutelic organisms are microscopic. Examples include the rotifers, many species of nematodes (including the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans), tardigrades, larvacea and dicyemida.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ How many cells are there in an organism?
  2. ^ Miscellaneous characters - Contributions to Zoology


Stub icon

This cell biology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eutely&oldid=727571718"