SPERMIOGENESIS IN PARATOMELLA-RUBRA (PLATYHELMINTHES, ACOELA) - ULTRASTRUCTURAL, IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL, CYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES AND PHYLOGENETIC IMPLICATIONS

Spermiogenesis and sperm structure of the primitive acoel Paratomella rubra from the Ligurian Sea, Italy, were investigated by several metho ds. During spermiogenesis, after flagellar incorporation by formation of two longitudinal lateral grooves, spermatid elongation is character ized in Paratomella by the presence of four membranes encircling each axoneme plus two membranes encircling both the axonemes and the nucleu s. These structures were interpreted as being three cytoplasmic canals situated one inside the other. The filiform spermatozoon has two inco rporated axonemes of 9+2 type, a nucleus almost as long as the sperm c ell itself, a single elongate mitochondrion, and two types of membrane -bound granules, respectively, small and gastrula-shaped, and large. O rganelles are highly ordered, the sperm is bilaterally symmetrical wit h a single long mitochondrion on the ventral side and a regular row of large granules, for some length embedded in the nucleus, on the dorsa l side. Immunocytochemical studies and the use of fluorescent nuclear dyes reveal the spatial relationships of the axonemes with the nucleus . The granules were shown by Thiery, PTA and enzyme digestion tests to contain glycoproteins and/or polysaccharides and very little protein. Glycogen particles were detected in the cytoplasm. Cells containing c oiled spermatozoa undergoing resorption were found in the parenchyma. New apomorphies of the taxon Paratomella based on sperm structure are proposed: a very long nucleus, a highly bilaterally symmetrical patter n of organelles, a single long mitochondrion. These characters are not found in other Acoela, and particularly in Hesiolicium, sometimes con sidered closely related to Paratomella. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.