The tetraspanin web represents a new concept of molecular interactions in the immune
system. Whereas most surface immune-modulating molecules involve receptor–ligand …

Understanding the evolutionary origins of behaviour is a central aim in the study of biology
and may lead to insights into human disorders. Synaptic transmission is observed in a wide …

Tetraspanins are evolutionarily conserved membrane proteins that tend to associate
laterally with one another and to cluster dynamically with numerous partner proteins in …

The evolution of multicellular animals (Metazoa) from their unicellular ancestors was a key
transition that was accompanied by the emergence and diversification of gene families …

In animals, the tetraspanins are a large superfamily of membrane proteins that play
important roles in organizing various cell–cell and matrix–cell interactions and signal …

Sponges have become the focus of studies on molecular evolution and the evolution of
animal body plans due to their ancient branching point in the metazoan lineage. Whereas …

At the point in animal evolution when cells began to adhere to each other they presumably
initially functioned as colonies. The formation of an epithelium that enclosed and controlled …

Sponges were first grouped to the animal-plants or plant-animals then to the Zoophyta or
Mesozoa and finally to the Parazoa. Only after the application of molecular biological …

An epithelium is important for integrity, homeostasis, communication and co-ordination, and
its development must have been a fundamental step in the evolution of modern metazoan …

Invertebrate diversity and architecture is immense. This is achieved by the organization and
function of four tissue types found in most metazoan phyla—epithelial, connective, muscle …