Four Chordate Hallmarks
Four Chordate
Hallmarks
The four distinctive characteristics that, taken together, set chordates apart from all other phyla are notochord, dorsal tubular nerve cord, pharyngeal pouches, and postanal tail. These characteristics are always found at some embryonic stage, although they may be altered or may disappear in later stages of the life cycle.
Notochord
The notochord is a flexible, rodlike structure, extending the length of the body. It is the first part of the endoskeleton to appear in the embryo. The notochord is an axis for muscle attachment, and because it can bend without shortening, it permits undulatory movements of the body. In most protochordates and in jawless vertebrates, the notochord persists throughout life (Figure 25-1). In all vertebrates a series of cartilaginous or bony vertebrae are formed from mesenchymal cells derived from blocks of mesodermal cells (somites) lateral to the notochord. In most vertebrates, the notochord is entirely displaced by vertebrae, although remains of the notochord usually persist between or within the vertebrae.
Dorsal Tubular Nerve Cord
In most invertebrate phyla that have a nerve cord, it is ventral to the alimentary canal and is solid, but in chordates the single cord is dorsal to the alimentary canal and is a tube (although the hollow center may be nearly obliterated during growth). The anterior end becomes enlarged to form the brain. The hollow cord is produced in the embryo by the infolding of ectodermal cells on the dorsal side of the body above the notochord. Among the vertebrates, the nerve cord passes through the protective neural arches of the vertebrae, and the anterior brain is surrounded by a bony or cartilaginous cranium.
Pharyngeal Pouches and Slits
Pharyngeal slits are perforated slitlike openings that lead from the pharyngeal cavity to the outside. They are formed by the inpocketing of the outside ectoderm (pharyngeal grooves) and the evagination, or outpocketing, of the endodermal lining of the pharynx (pharyngeal pouches). In aquatic chordates, the two pockets break through the pharyngeal cavity where they meet to form the pharyngeal slit. In amniotes these pockets may not break through the pharyngeal cavity and only grooves are formed instead of slits. In tetrapod (four-footed) vertebrates the pharyngeal pouches give rise to several different structures, including the Eustachian tube, middle ear cavity, tonsils, and parathyroid glands.
The perforated pharynx evolved as a filter-feeding apparatus and is used as such in the protochordates. Water with suspended food particles is drawn by ciliary action through the mouth and flows out through the pharyngeal slits where food is trapped in mucus. Later, in vertebrates, ciliary action was replaced by a muscular pump that drives water through the pharynx by expanding and contracting the pharyngeal cavity. Also modified were the aortic arches that carry blood through the pharyngeal bars. In protochordates these are simple vessels surrounded by connective tissue. The early fishes added a capillary network having only thin, gas-permeable walls, thus improving efficiency of gas transfer between blood and the water outside. These adaptations led to the evolution of internal gills, completing the conversion of the pharynx from a filter-feeding apparatus in protochordates to a respiratory organ in aquatic vertebrates.
Postanal Tail
The postanal tail, together with somatic musculature and the stiffening notochord, provides the motility that larval tunicates and amphioxus need for their free-swimming existence. As a structure added to the body behind the end of the digestive tract, it clearly has evolved specifically for propulsion in water. Its efficiency is later increased in fishes with the addition of fins. The tail is evident in humans only as a vestige (the coccyx, a series of small vertebrae at the end of the spinal column) but most other mammals have a waggable tail as adults.
The four distinctive characteristics that, taken together, set chordates apart from all other phyla are notochord, dorsal tubular nerve cord, pharyngeal pouches, and postanal tail. These characteristics are always found at some embryonic stage, although they may be altered or may disappear in later stages of the life cycle.
Notochord
The notochord is a flexible, rodlike structure, extending the length of the body. It is the first part of the endoskeleton to appear in the embryo. The notochord is an axis for muscle attachment, and because it can bend without shortening, it permits undulatory movements of the body. In most protochordates and in jawless vertebrates, the notochord persists throughout life (Figure 25-1). In all vertebrates a series of cartilaginous or bony vertebrae are formed from mesenchymal cells derived from blocks of mesodermal cells (somites) lateral to the notochord. In most vertebrates, the notochord is entirely displaced by vertebrae, although remains of the notochord usually persist between or within the vertebrae.
Dorsal Tubular Nerve Cord
In most invertebrate phyla that have a nerve cord, it is ventral to the alimentary canal and is solid, but in chordates the single cord is dorsal to the alimentary canal and is a tube (although the hollow center may be nearly obliterated during growth). The anterior end becomes enlarged to form the brain. The hollow cord is produced in the embryo by the infolding of ectodermal cells on the dorsal side of the body above the notochord. Among the vertebrates, the nerve cord passes through the protective neural arches of the vertebrae, and the anterior brain is surrounded by a bony or cartilaginous cranium.
Pharyngeal Pouches and Slits
Pharyngeal slits are perforated slitlike openings that lead from the pharyngeal cavity to the outside. They are formed by the inpocketing of the outside ectoderm (pharyngeal grooves) and the evagination, or outpocketing, of the endodermal lining of the pharynx (pharyngeal pouches). In aquatic chordates, the two pockets break through the pharyngeal cavity where they meet to form the pharyngeal slit. In amniotes these pockets may not break through the pharyngeal cavity and only grooves are formed instead of slits. In tetrapod (four-footed) vertebrates the pharyngeal pouches give rise to several different structures, including the Eustachian tube, middle ear cavity, tonsils, and parathyroid glands.
The perforated pharynx evolved as a filter-feeding apparatus and is used as such in the protochordates. Water with suspended food particles is drawn by ciliary action through the mouth and flows out through the pharyngeal slits where food is trapped in mucus. Later, in vertebrates, ciliary action was replaced by a muscular pump that drives water through the pharynx by expanding and contracting the pharyngeal cavity. Also modified were the aortic arches that carry blood through the pharyngeal bars. In protochordates these are simple vessels surrounded by connective tissue. The early fishes added a capillary network having only thin, gas-permeable walls, thus improving efficiency of gas transfer between blood and the water outside. These adaptations led to the evolution of internal gills, completing the conversion of the pharynx from a filter-feeding apparatus in protochordates to a respiratory organ in aquatic vertebrates.
Postanal Tail
The postanal tail, together with somatic musculature and the stiffening notochord, provides the motility that larval tunicates and amphioxus need for their free-swimming existence. As a structure added to the body behind the end of the digestive tract, it clearly has evolved specifically for propulsion in water. Its efficiency is later increased in fishes with the addition of fins. The tail is evident in humans only as a vestige (the coccyx, a series of small vertebrae at the end of the spinal column) but most other mammals have a waggable tail as adults.
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