H. V. Wilson worked with sponges to gain some insight into exactly what was responsible for holding adjacent cells together. He exposed two species of differently pigmented sponges to a chemical that disrupted the cell-cell interaction (cell junctions), and the cells of the sponges dissociated. Wilson then mixed the cells of the two species and removed the chemical that caused the cells to dissociate. Wilson found that the sponges reassembled into two separate species. The cells from one species did not interact or form associations with the cells of the other species. How do you explain the results of Wilson's experiments?
A) The two species of sponge had different enzymes that functioned in the reassembly process.
B) The molecules responsible for cell-cell adhesion (cell junctions) were irreversibly destroyed during the experiment.
C) The molecules responsible for cell-cell adhesion (cell junctions) differed between the two species of sponge.
D) One cell functioned as the nucleus for each organism, thereby attracting only cells of the same pigment.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Wilson's experiments suggest that the molecules responsible for cell-cell adhesion (cell junctions) differed between the two species of sponge, as the cells from one species did not interact or form associations with the cells of the other species. This indicates that the molecules involved in cell junctions were specific to each species, and did not allow for interaction between them.

H V Wilson Worked with Sponges to Gain Some Insight into into Exactly