ArticleScience advances2017
Microbial arms race: Ballistic "nematocysts" in dinoflagellates represent a new extreme in organelle complexity.
Article in Science advances, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- An Idealized Model of Extrusome Ejection Through the Collapse of a Capsule.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2026Article
- Evo-Inspired Engineering of Radical Phenotypes and Emergent Traits.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Review
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- Multiple parallel origins of parasitic Marine Alveolates.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Openly available illustrations as tools to describe eukaryotic microbial diversity.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Investigation of the rate-mediated form-function relationship in biological puncture.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Three-dimensional architecture and assembly mechanism of the egg-shaped shell in testate amoebaFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- The architecture and operating mechanism of a cnidarian stinging organelle.Nature communications · 2022Article
- A novel membrane complex is required for docking and regulated exocytosis of lysosome-related organelles in Tetrahymena thermophila.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Quantitative Insights into the Contribution of Nematocysts to the Adaptive Success of Cnidarians Based on Proteomic Analysis.Biology · 2022Article
- Bioluminescence and Photoreception in Unicellular Organisms: Light-Signalling in a Bio-Communication Perspective.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- 3-Dimensional organization and dynamics of the microsporidian polar tube invasion machinery.PLoS pathogens · 2020Article
- Pattern Formation and Complexity in Single Cells.Current biology : CB · 2020Review
- Dinoflagellate nucleus contains an extensive endomembrane network, the nuclear net.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- From tumors to species: a SCANDAL hypothesis.Biology direct · 2019Article
- Remodeling the Specificity of an Endosomal CORVET Tether Underlies Formation of Regulated Secretory Vesicles in the Ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila.Current biology : CB · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We examine the origin of harpoon-like secretory organelles (nematocysts) in dinoflagellate protists. These ballistic organelles have been hypothesized to be homologous to similarly complex structures in animals (cnidarians); but we show, using structural, functional, and phylogenomic data, that nematocysts evolved independently in both lineages. We also recorded the first high-resolution videos of nematocyst discharge in dinoflagellates. Unexpectedly, our data suggest that different types of dinoflagellate nematocysts use two fundamentally different types of ballistic mechanisms: one type relies on a single pressurized capsule for propulsion, whereas the other type launches 11 to 15 projectiles from an arrangement similar to a Gatling gun. Despite their radical structural differences, these nematocysts share a single origin within dinoflagellates and both potentially use a contraction-based mechanism to generate ballistic force. The diversity of traits in dinoflagellate nematocysts demonstrates a stepwise route by which simple secretory structures diversified to yield elaborate subcellular weaponry.
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