Body plan
Encyclopedia
A body plan is the blueprint for the way the body of an organism is laid out. An organism's symmetry
, its number of body segment
s and number of limbs
are all aspects of its body plan. One of the key issues of developmental biology
is the evolution of body plans as different as those of a starfish, a fern, or a mammal, from a common biological heritage, and in particular how radical changes in body plans have occurred over geological time. The body plan is a key feature of an organism's morphology
and, since the discovery of DNA
, developmental biologists have been able to learn a lot about how genes control the development of structural features through a cascade of processes in which key genes produce morphogen
s, chemicals that diffuse through the body to produce a gradient that acts as a position indicator for cells, turning on other genes, some of which in turn produce other morphogens. A key discovery was the existence of groups of homeobox genes
which are responsible for laying down the basic body plan in organisms. The homeobox genes are remarkably conserved between species as diverse as the fruitfly and man, the basic segmented pattern of the worm or fruitfly being the origin of the segmented spine in man. The field of evolutionary developmental biology, which studies the genetics of morphology in detail is now a rapidly expanding one http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005D708-2F7C-123B-AF7C83414B7F0000, with many of the developmental genetic cascades, particularly in the fruitfly drosophila
, now catalogued in considerable detail.
Body plan is the basis for phylum
, and there are 35 different basic animal body plans, corresponding to different phyla.
life in the Ediacaran
Era, over 600 million years ago. The most basic and successful structure, for free-moving organisms, is the "pipe" or alimentary canal. This is common even to organisms as diverse as human
s and earthworm
s. It is essentially a passage having a mouth at one end, and a cloaca or anus at the other. The simple process of nutrient capture, digestion, and waste disposal is fundamental to the body plan of advanced, free-moving animals. Vertebra, limbs, even brains are supplementary to the pipe. Natural selection has spun off an enormous range of variations on this basic theme, but the pipe model itself remains. The basic symmetry and organization of this body plan apparently gave an ancient organism an enormous advantage at survival and reproduction, and it has been preserved in most animals ever since.
The Cambrian explosion
refers to the massive increase in different body plans that took place around 530 million years ago. Fossils from this era show all sorts of odd shapes, many quite unlike anything found today. At that time it was possible for organisms to survive and make a living even though they were unrefined and unlikely, because predation had yet to evolve, along with arms races that would optimise and streamline them to occupy a particular ecological niche
.
). It is not necessary that a bauplan precisely describes any one particular species of that group.
The concept of bauplan is employed in the studies of morphology, taxonomy, comparative physiology
, evolutionary physiology
, and, most notably, phylogenetics and evolution. Before the advent of genetic sequencing, the analysis of the bauplan of fossils was the primary method to determine hypothetical relationships and lineages of species, both living and extinct. The idea is that species that are closely related share more common properties, hence a more detailed bauplan. Small differences of bauplan are indicative of species belonging to a parent, child or sibling taxon.
appears to contain numerous species and taxa
with body plans quite different from any found in currently living organisms.
The most commonly seen body plan amongst vertebrate
s is that of the tetrapod
, which include all mammal
s, bird
s, amphibian
s and reptile
s. Some animal groups, such as the cetacea
ns, bat
s and most birds have been modified (e.g. front limbs become wings or flippers) but nevertheless, they are still tetrapods.
The invertebrate
s employ a much more diverse array of body plans, such as seen in insects (six legs, three body parts and an exoskeleton), cephalopod
s (no skeleton, hydrostatically stiffened tentacles, primary propulsion by squeezing water out of a mantle cavity), echinoderm
s (fivefold radial symmetry, external skeleton, movement by hydrostatically operated tube feet) and various phyla of "worms" (tube-shaped, movement by expanding and contracting parts of the body).
The most varied collection of body forms known is found in the Burgess Shale
, where fossils from a Cambrian
sea show a tremendous variety of body forms that came to rise (only to later fall extinct) during the Cambrian explosion
.
is the appearance of extraterrestrial beings, descriptions of which have ranged from being simple variants on human anatomy to beings with body plans wildly different from any found on Earth. The field of exobiology
attempts to bring these and similar speculations into the realm of serious scientific investigation.
Symmetry (biology)
Symmetry in biology is the balanced distribution of duplicate body parts or shapes. The body plans of most multicellular organisms exhibit some form of symmetry, either radial symmetry or bilateral symmetry or "spherical symmetry". A small minority exhibit no symmetry .In nature and biology,...
, its number of body segment
Segmentation (biology)
Segmentation in biology refers to either a type of gastrointestinal motility or the division of some animal and plant body plans into a series of repetitive segments. This article will focus on the segmentation of animal body plans, specifically using the examples of the phyla Arthropoda,...
s and number of limbs
Limb (anatomy)
A limb is a jointed, or prehensile , appendage of the human or other animal body....
are all aspects of its body plan. One of the key issues of developmental biology
Developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...
is the evolution of body plans as different as those of a starfish, a fern, or a mammal, from a common biological heritage, and in particular how radical changes in body plans have occurred over geological time. The body plan is a key feature of an organism's morphology
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
and, since the discovery of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
, developmental biologists have been able to learn a lot about how genes control the development of structural features through a cascade of processes in which key genes produce morphogen
Morphogen
A morphogen is a substance governing the pattern of tissue development, and the positions of the various specialized cell types within a tissue...
s, chemicals that diffuse through the body to produce a gradient that acts as a position indicator for cells, turning on other genes, some of which in turn produce other morphogens. A key discovery was the existence of groups of homeobox genes
Homeobox
A homeobox is a DNA sequence found within genes that are involved in the regulation of patterns of anatomical development in animals, fungi and plants.- Discovery :...
which are responsible for laying down the basic body plan in organisms. The homeobox genes are remarkably conserved between species as diverse as the fruitfly and man, the basic segmented pattern of the worm or fruitfly being the origin of the segmented spine in man. The field of evolutionary developmental biology, which studies the genetics of morphology in detail is now a rapidly expanding one http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005D708-2F7C-123B-AF7C83414B7F0000, with many of the developmental genetic cascades, particularly in the fruitfly drosophila
Drosophila
Drosophila is a genus of small flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "fruit flies" or more appropriately pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit...
, now catalogued in considerable detail.
Body plan is the basis for phylum
Phylum
In biology, a phylum The term was coined by Georges Cuvier from Greek φῦλον phylon, "race, stock," related to φυλή phyle, "tribe, clan." is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division....
, and there are 35 different basic animal body plans, corresponding to different phyla.
Origin
The evolution of body plans became inevitable with the emergence of differentiated multicellularMulticellular organism
Multicellular organisms are organisms that consist of more than one cell, in contrast to single-celled organisms. Most life that can be seen with the the naked eye is multicellular, as are all animals and land plants.-Evolutionary history:Multicellularity has evolved independently dozens of times...
life in the Ediacaran
Ediacaran
The Ediacaran Period , named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, is the last geological period of the Neoproterozoic Era and of the Proterozoic Eon, immediately preceding the Cambrian Period, the first period of the Paleozoic Era and of the Phanerozoic Eon...
Era, over 600 million years ago. The most basic and successful structure, for free-moving organisms, is the "pipe" or alimentary canal. This is common even to organisms as diverse as human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s and earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
s. It is essentially a passage having a mouth at one end, and a cloaca or anus at the other. The simple process of nutrient capture, digestion, and waste disposal is fundamental to the body plan of advanced, free-moving animals. Vertebra, limbs, even brains are supplementary to the pipe. Natural selection has spun off an enormous range of variations on this basic theme, but the pipe model itself remains. The basic symmetry and organization of this body plan apparently gave an ancient organism an enormous advantage at survival and reproduction, and it has been preserved in most animals ever since.
The Cambrian explosion
Cambrian explosion
The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance, around , of most major phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of other organisms, including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes...
refers to the massive increase in different body plans that took place around 530 million years ago. Fossils from this era show all sorts of odd shapes, many quite unlike anything found today. At that time it was possible for organisms to survive and make a living even though they were unrefined and unlikely, because predation had yet to evolve, along with arms races that would optimise and streamline them to occupy a particular ecological niche
Ecological niche
In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different pod if the members of these pods utilize significantly different food...
.
Bauplan
Bauplan (German for building plan, blueprint; plural: baupläne or bauplaene) is a closely related term in biology referring to the common new and original (homologous) properties of the members of a systematic group (taxonTaxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
). It is not necessary that a bauplan precisely describes any one particular species of that group.
The concept of bauplan is employed in the studies of morphology, taxonomy, comparative physiology
Comparative physiology
Comparative physiology is a subdiscipline of physiology that studies and exploits the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary physiology and environmental physiology. Many universities offer undergraduate courses that cover...
, evolutionary physiology
Evolutionary physiology
Evolutionary physiology is the study of physiological evolution, which is to say, the manner in which the functional characteristics of individuals in a population of organisms have responded to selection across multiple generations during the history of the population.It is a subdiscipline of both...
, and, most notably, phylogenetics and evolution. Before the advent of genetic sequencing, the analysis of the bauplan of fossils was the primary method to determine hypothetical relationships and lineages of species, both living and extinct. The idea is that species that are closely related share more common properties, hence a more detailed bauplan. Small differences of bauplan are indicative of species belonging to a parent, child or sibling taxon.
Genetic basis
Similarities and differences in adult shape and form, as well as the developmental pattern of embryos, provide the framework for modern taxonomic classification. These comparisons are the basis of phylogenetic systematics. Embryonic development is relatively consistent among animals with similar body plans, although similar larval forms may give rise to very different adults in some groups. The timing, pattern, and scale of developmental events determine the shape of an organism, and closely related groups are more likely to share structural and developmental similarities than those that are more distantly related. Homologous structures and developmental stages—those that are similar among related groups because they are inherited from a common ancestor—are the basis of modern biological classification.Examples
The current range of body plans is far from exhausting the possible patterns for life: the Ediacaran biotaEdiacara biota
The Ediacara biota consisted of enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile organisms which lived during the Ediacaran Period . Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms.Simple multicellular organisms such as...
appears to contain numerous species and taxa
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
with body plans quite different from any found in currently living organisms.
The most commonly seen body plan amongst vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s is that of the tetrapod
Tetrapod
Tetrapods are vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are all tetrapods; even snakes and other limbless reptiles and amphibians are tetrapods by descent. The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian...
, which include all mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s. Some animal groups, such as the cetacea
Cetacea
The order Cetacea includes the marine mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Cetus is Latin and is used in biological names to mean "whale"; its original meaning, "large sea animal", was more general. It comes from Ancient Greek , meaning "whale" or "any huge fish or sea...
ns, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s and most birds have been modified (e.g. front limbs become wings or flippers) but nevertheless, they are still tetrapods.
The invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s employ a much more diverse array of body plans, such as seen in insects (six legs, three body parts and an exoskeleton), cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...
s (no skeleton, hydrostatically stiffened tentacles, primary propulsion by squeezing water out of a mantle cavity), echinoderm
Echinoderm
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone....
s (fivefold radial symmetry, external skeleton, movement by hydrostatically operated tube feet) and various phyla of "worms" (tube-shaped, movement by expanding and contracting parts of the body).
The most varied collection of body forms known is found in the Burgess Shale
Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...
, where fossils from a Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
sea show a tremendous variety of body forms that came to rise (only to later fall extinct) during the Cambrian explosion
Cambrian explosion
The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance, around , of most major phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of other organisms, including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes...
.
Fictional
One common theme in science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
is the appearance of extraterrestrial beings, descriptions of which have ranged from being simple variants on human anatomy to beings with body plans wildly different from any found on Earth. The field of exobiology
Astrobiology
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This interdisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry,...
attempts to bring these and similar speculations into the realm of serious scientific investigation.
See also
- Anatomical terms of locationAnatomical terms of locationStandard anatomical terms of location are designations employed in science that deal with the anatomy of animals to avoid ambiguities that might otherwise arise. They are not language-specific, and thus require no translation...
- Arthropod head problemArthropod head problemThe arthropod head problem is a long-standing zoological dispute concerning the segmental composition of the heads of the various arthropod groups, and how they are evolutionarily related to each other...
- Deep homologyDeep homologyIn evolutionary developmental biology, the concept of deep homology is used to describe cases where growth and differentiation processes are governed by genetic mechanisms that are homologous and deeply conserved across a wide range of species....
- Definition of Phylum based on body plan
- Evolutionary developmental biologyEvolutionary developmental biologyEvolutionary developmental biology is a field of biology that compares the developmental processes of different organisms to determine the ancestral relationship between them, and to discover how developmental processes evolved...
- Ediacaran biotaEdiacara biotaThe Ediacara biota consisted of enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile organisms which lived during the Ediacaran Period . Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms.Simple multicellular organisms such as...
- HomeoboxHomeoboxA homeobox is a DNA sequence found within genes that are involved in the regulation of patterns of anatomical development in animals, fungi and plants.- Discovery :...
- MacroevolutionMacroevolutionMacroevolution is evolution on a scale of separated gene pools. Macroevolutionary studies focus on change that occurs at or above the level of species, in contrast with microevolution, which refers to smaller evolutionary changes within a species or population.The process of speciation may fall...
- Sean B. CarrollSean B. CarrollSean B. Carroll is a Professor of Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Medical Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system...
- Supernumerary body partSupernumerary body partSupernumerary body parts are most commonly a congenital disorder involving the growth of an additional part of the body and a deviation from the body plan. Body parts may be easily visible or hidden away, such as internal organs....
- Symmetry (biology)Symmetry (biology)Symmetry in biology is the balanced distribution of duplicate body parts or shapes. The body plans of most multicellular organisms exhibit some form of symmetry, either radial symmetry or bilateral symmetry or "spherical symmetry". A small minority exhibit no symmetry .In nature and biology,...