Phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution and bionic applications of siliceous sponge spicules

Sponges are the oldest and the simplest but not primitive multicellular animals. They represent the earliest evolutionary metazoan phylum still extant. It was a long and painful scientific process to posi-tion the most enigmatic and mysterious metazoan,the Porifera,into their correct phylogenetic place among the eukaryotes in general and multicellular animals in particular. As living fossils,sponges provide the best evidence for the early evolution of Metazoa. More recently,interest has been focused on the bionic applications of sponges' siliceous spicules,after the discovery of their unique structure and high fiber performance. In this review,the emergence of sponges,evolutionary novelties found in sponges,and the phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution are highlighted. In ad-dition,the present state of knowledge on silicatein-mediated "biosilica" formation in marine sponges,including the involvement of other molecules in silica metabolism and their potential application in nanobiotechnology and medicine,is given.

Phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution and bionic applications of siliceous sponge spicules

Sponges are the oldest and the simplest but not primitive multicellular animals. They represent the earliest evolutionary metazoan phylum still extant. It was a long and painful scientific process to position the most enigmatic and mysterious metazoan, the Porifera, into their correct phylogenetic place among the eukaryotes in general and multicellular animals in particular. As living fossils, sponges provide the best evidence for the early evolution of Metazoa. More recently, interest has been focused on the bionic applications of sponges’ siliceous spicules, after the discovery of their unique structure and high fiber performance. In this review, the emergence of sponges, evolutionary novelties found in sponges, and the phylogenetic position of sponges in early metazoan evolution are highlighted. In addition, the present state of knowledge on silicatein-mediated “biosilica” formation in marine sponges, including the involvement of other molecules in silica metabolism and their potential application in nanobiotechnology and medicine, is given. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50402023), the European Commission, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung Germany (project: Center of Excellence BIOTECmarin) and the International Human Frontier Science Program