Question

You discover two species of sponge, one red and one blue, near a deep sea vent. You genetically engineer the red sponge to produce the same CAMs as the blue sponge. You then take each sponge - the blue sponge and the engineered sponge - dissociate their cells, and mix the red and blue cells together. Which of the following will you most likely observe?

A. one sponge with a red side and a blue side
B. one blue sponge and one red sponge
C. one sponge with blue cells and red cells randomly distributed D. a bunch of red and blue cells that stay dissociated
E. one sponge with alternating red and blue layers of cells

Answer 1

Genetically engineered red sponge cells with the same CAMs as blue sponge cells will mix with the blue cells and reassociate, likely leading to a single sponge with red and blue cells randomly distributed.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you genetically engineer the red sponge to produce the same cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) as the blue sponge and then dissociate and mix their cells together, the most likely observation will be C. one sponge with blue cells and red cells randomly distributed. Sponges are simple multicellular organisms that do not have true interconnected tissues but have specialized cells working together. When sponges are dissociated into single cells and mixed with cells from another individual, the cells can recognize and associate with each other via CAMs. Since the red sponge has been engineered to have the same CAMs as the blue sponge, cells from both sponges would adhere based on those CAMs, likely resulting in a mixed cell distribution throughout the reformed sponge rather than segregation into separate sponges or distinct layers.