Deployment of regulatory genes during gastrulation and germ layer specification in a model spiralian mollusc Crepidula.

Background: During gastrulation, endoderm and mesoderm are specified from a bipotential precursor (endomesoderm) that is argued to be homologous across bilaterians. Spiralians also generate mesoderm from ectodermal precursors (ectomesoderm), which arises near the blastopore. While a conserved gene regulatory network controls specification of endomesoderm in deuterostomes and ecdysozoans, little is known about genes controlling specification or behavior of either source of spiralian mesoderm or the digestive tract.

Development of the annelid axochord: insights into notochord evolution.

The origin of chordates has been debated for more than a century, with one key issue being the emergence of the notochord. In vertebrates, the notochord develops by convergence and extension of the chordamesoderm, a population of midline cells of unique molecular identity. We identify a population of mesodermal cells in a developing invertebrate, the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii, that converges and extends toward the midline and expresses a notochord-specific combination of genes.

SeaBase: a multispecies transcriptomic resource and platform for gene network inference.

Marine and aquatic animals are extraordinarily useful as models for identifying mechanisms of development and evolution, regeneration, resistance to cancer, longevity and symbiosis, among many other areas of research. This is due to the great diversity of these organisms and their wide-ranging capabilities. Genomics tools are essential for taking advantage of these "free lessons" of nature.

Employing BAC-reporter constructs in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.

Changes in the expression and function of genes drive evolutionary change. Comparing how genes are regulated in different species is therefore becoming an important part of evo-devo studies. A key tool for investigating the regulation of genes is represented by bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC)-reporter constructs.

Mesoteloblast-like mesodermal stem cells in the polychaete annelid Platynereis dumerilii (Nereididae).

Spiral cleavage is observed in animals that belong to the lophotrochozoa, a large group of marine invertebrates. As characteristic for spiral cleavage, the bulk of mesoderm forms from one cell, the "4d blastomere." This process has not yet been followed in cellular detail in annelids except in the leech, where "mesoteloblasts," a pair of mesodermal stem cells, generate two bands of mesoderm precursor cells in an iterative fashion.

Evo-devo in the era of gene regulatory networks.

Advanced genomics tools enable powerful new strategies for understanding complex biological processes, including development. By extension, we should be able to use these methods in a comparative fashion to capture evolutionary mechanisms. This requires a capacity to go deep and broad, to analyze developmental gene regulatory networks in many organisms, especially nontraditional models.

Germ band differentiation in the stomatopod Gonodactylaceus falcatus and the origin of the stereotyped cell division pattern in Malacostraca (Crustacea).

We analysed aspects of the embryonic development of the stomatopod crustacean Gonodactylaceus falcatus focusing on the cell division in the ectoderm of the germ band. As in many other malacostracan crustaceans, the growth zone in the caudal papilla is formed by 19 ectoteloblasts and 8 mesoteloblasts arranged in rings. These teloblasts give rise to the cellular material of the largest part of the post-naupliar germ band in a stereotyped cell division pattern.

ZOONET: perspectives on the evolution of animal form. Meeting report.

What drives evolution? This was one of the main questions raised at the final ZOONET meeting in Budapest, Hungary, in November 2008. The meeting marked the conclusion of ZOONET, an EU-funded Marie-Curie Research Training Network comprising nine research groups from all over Europe (Max Telford, University College London; Michael Akam, University of Cambridge; Detlev Arendt, EMBL Heidelberg; Maria Ina Arnone, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn Napoli; Michalis Averof, IMBB Heraklion; Graham Budd, Uppsala University; Richard Copley, University of Oxford; Wim Damen, University of Cologne; Ernst Wimmer, University of Göttingen). ZOONET meetings and practical courses held during the past four years provided researchers from diverse backgrounds--bioinformatics, phylogenetics, embryology, palaeontology, and developmental and molecular biology--the opportunity to discuss their work under a common umbrella of evolutionary developmental biology (Evo Devo).