There were multiple prerequisites to the evolution of multicellular animal life, including the
generation of multiple cell fates (" cellular diversity") and their patterned spatial arrangement …

How animals establish and pattern the primary body axis is one of the most fundamental
problems in biology. Data from diverse deuterostomes (frog, fish, mouse, and amphioxus) …

Annelida is an ecologically and morphologically diverse phylum within the Lophotrochozoa
whose members occupy a wide range of environments and show diverse life styles. The …

Wnt genes are important regulators of embryogenesis and cell differentiation in vertebrates
and insects. New data revealed by comparative genomics have now shown that members of …

The regulation of body axis specification in the common ancestor of bilaterians remains
controversial. BMP signaling appears to be an ancient program for patterning the secondary …

Reverse genetics and next‐generation sequencing unlocked a new era in biology. It is now
possible to identify an animal (s) with the unique biology most relevant to a particular …

Although adult pluripotent stem cells (aPSCs) are found in many animal lineages,
mechanisms for their formation during embryogenesis are unknown. Here, we leveraged …

The phylogenetic placement of the morphologically simple placozoans is crucial to
understanding the evolution of complex animal traits. Here, we examine the influence of …

The marine ecosystem is governed by a multitude of environmental cycles, all of which are
linked to the periodical recurrence of the sun or the moon. In accordance with these cycles …

Our understanding of vertebrate origins is powerfully informed by comparative morphology,
embryology and genomics of chordates, hemichordates and echinoderms, which together …