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Ectopic foot formation; pattern formation; Pelmatohydra oligactis ; promotion of budding; regeneration; ultraviolet radiation

We have studied the effects of ultraviolet-C (UVC) and Ultraviolet-B (UVB) on growth and pattern formation inPelmatohydra oligactis. UVC brings about a significant increase in budding in intact hydra while UVB does not exhibit such an effect. Excessive budding could be a response for survival at wavelengths that damage biological tissues. If the head or base piece of a bisected hydra is irradiated and recombined with the unirradiated missing part, regeneration proceeds normally indicating that exposure of a body part with either an intact head or foot to UVC does not influence pattern formation. Most significantly, in the middle piece, but not in the head or the base piece of a trisected hydra, UVC leads to initiation of ectopic feet formation in almost one third of the cases. Thus, UV irradiation interferes with pattern formation in regenerating hydra, possibly by changing positional values, and promotes budding in intact hydra. This is the first report on induction of ectopic feet formation by UV in regenerating hydra and opens up the possibility of using UV irradiation as a tool to understand pattern formation in the enigmatic hydra

Saroj S Ghaskadbi¹ Leena Shetye¹ Shashi Chiplonkar^{1 2} Surendra Ghaskadbi^{1 2}

1. Department of Zoology, University ofPune, Pune - 411 007, India
2. Division of Animal Sciences, Agharkar Research Institute, GG Agarkar Road, Pune - 411 004, India

Published

March 2005

Manuscript received

23 November 2004

Accepted

28 January 2005