How animals evolved from a single-celled ancestor, transitioning from a unicellular lifestyle
to a coordinated multicellular entity, remains a fascinating question. Key events in this …

ETS-related gene (ERG) is a member of the E-26 transformation-specific (ETS) family of
transcription factors with roles in development that include vasculogenesis, angiogenesis …

INTRODUCTION In animals, gene regulatory networks specify cell identity in space and
time. Transcription of genes in these networks is modulated by a class of cis-regulatory …

Sponges are an ancient group of animals that diverged from other metazoans over 600
million years ago. Here we present the draft genome sequence of Amphimedon …

Animal evolution is often presented as a march toward complexity, with different living
animal groups each representing grades of organization that arose through the progressive …

A widely held—but rarely tested—hypothesis for the origin of animals is that they evolved
from a unicellular ancestor, with an apical cilium surrounded by a microvillar collar, that …

Striated muscles are present in bilaterian animals (for example, vertebrates, insects and
annelids) and some non-bilaterian eumetazoans (that is, cnidarians and ctenophores). The …

Background Of the 20 or so signal transduction pathways that orchestrate cell-cell
interactions in metazoans, seven are involved during development. One of these is the …

Understanding how protein structures and functions have diversified is a central goal in
molecular evolution. Surveys of very divergent proteins from model organisms, however, are …

One of the major questions in the evolution of animals is the transition from unicellular to
multicellular organization, which resulted in the emergence of Metazoa through a …