Sea urchins are emblematic models in developmental biology and display several
characteristics that set them apart from other deuterostomes. To uncover the genomic cues …

Cephalochordates and tunicates represent the only two groups of invertebrate chordates,
and extant cephalochordates–commonly known as amphioxus or lancelets–are considered …

A series of “molecular domestication” events are thought to have converted an invertebrate
RAG-like (RAGL) transposase into the RAG1–RAG2 (RAG) recombinase, a critical enzyme …

Ascidian embryos have been studied since the birth of experimental embryology at the end
of the 19th century. They represent textbook examples of mosaic development characterized …

Gene duplication is recognized as a critical process in genome evolution; however, many
questions about this process remain unanswered. Although gene duplicability has been …

POU genes are a family of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors with key functions in
cell type specification and neurogenesis. In vitro experiments have indicated that the …

Throughout embryonic development, the shaping of the functional and morphological
characteristics of embryos is orchestrated by an intricate interaction between transcription …

Regulation of gene expression is arguably the main mechanism underlying the phenotypic
diversity of tissues within and between species. Here we assembled an extensive …

The mechanisms underlying the toxicity of environmental stress are unclear for marine
macrobenthos. Copper/Cu has posed the most serious threats to amphioxus, an ancient and …

C-type lectin proteins (CTLs), a group of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), play pivotal
roles in immune responses. However, the signal transduction and regulation of CTLs in …