The development of bioluminescence in the

ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi

Abstract
The photocytes of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis have a discontinuous
distribution along the radial canal between the sites where the comb plate
cilia cells are located on the side of the canal which contains the testes. They
are separated from the lumen of the canal by a population of gastric cells.
Cytologically these cells are characterized by a condensed nucleus and
cytoplasm which stains lightly with basophilic dyes.
The ability of the ctenophore embryo to produce light appears at the
developmental stage when the comb plate cilia first begin to grow out. At this
stage four light-producing areas are present; each area corresponds to one
quadrant of the adult animal. At the sites of light production, a population of
cells can be identified that have some of the cytological properties of the
photocytes of the adult animal. Within 8–10 hr after light production begins
there is a 10-fold increase in the amount of light produced by an embryo and a
cytological maturation of its photocytes; during this time period there is no
increase in photocyte number. At about the time the embryo begins to feed,
each light-producing region splits into two regions, each of which corresponds
to a radial canal.

During the process of embryogenesis the photocyte cell lineage is first

segregated from non-photocytes at the differential division which gives the 8-
cell stage embryo. The M macromere lineage goes on to form photocytes, but
the E macromere lineage does not. The M macromeres form a micromere at
the aboral pole of the embryo at each of the next two cleavages; during these
cleavages the potential for photocyte differentiation continues to segregate
with the M macromeres. During the division which gives the 64-cell stage the
M macromeres divide equally; the potential for photocyte differentiation
segregates with the M macromeres nearest the oral-aboral axis. M
macromeres which are isolated from the embryo at the 8-, 16-, or 32-cell stage
of development will continue to cleave as though they were part of a normal
embryo and differentiate to form photocytes.

The events that are responsible for the differential division during the
formation of the 8-cell stage embryo have been studied by centrifuging eggs to
produce fragments of different cytoplasmic composition. Egg fragments which
contain only cortical cytoplasm differentiate comb plate cilia cells, but do not
produce photocytes. Cortical fragments with a small amount of yolk
differentiate comb plate cilia cells and photocytes. Both the M and E
macromeres from cortical fragments with no yolk produce comb plate cilia.
Only M macromeres containing yolk form photocytes; if an M macromere
forms photocytes it does not form comb plate cilia.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0012160673903217