The initiation of metamorphosis as an ancient polyphenic trait and its role in metazoan life-cycle evolution

Comparative genomics of representative basal metazoans leaves little doubt that the most recent common ancestor to all modern metazoans was morphogenetically complex. Here, we support this interpretation by demonstrating that the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica has a biphasic pelagobenthic life cycle resembling that present in a wide range of bilaterians and anthozoan cnidarians. The A. queenslandica life cycle includes a compulsory planktonic larval phase that can end only once the larva develops competence to respond to benthic signals that induce settlement and metamorphosis. The temporal onset of competence varies between individuals as revealed by idiosyncratic responses to inductive cues. Thus, the biphasic life cycle with a dispersing larval phase of variable length appears to be a metazoan synapomorphy and may be viewed as an ancestral polyphenic trait. Larvae of a particular age that are subjected to an inductive cue either maintain the larval form or metamorphose into the post-larval/juvenile form. Variance in the development of competence dictates that only a subset of a larval cohort will settle and undergo metamorphosis at a given time, which in turn leads to variation in dispersal distance and in location of settlement. Population divergence and allopatric speciation are likely outcomes of this conserved developmental polyphenic trait.