Formin Is Associated with Left-Right Asymmetry in the Pond Snail and the Frog.

While components of the pathway that establishes left-right asymmetry have been identified in diverse animals, from vertebrates to flies, it is striking that the genes involved in the first symmetry-breaking step remain wholly unknown in the most obviously chiral animals, the gastropod snails. Previously, research on snails was used to show that left-right signaling of Nodal, downstream of symmetry breaking, may be an ancestral feature of the Bilateria [1 and 2]. Here, we report that a disabling mutation in one copy of a tandemly duplicated, diaphanous-related formin is perfectly associated with symmetry breaking in the pond snail.

A conserved set of maternal genes? Insights from a molluscan transcriptome.

The early animal embryo is entirely reliant on maternal gene products for a 'jump-start' that transforms a transcriptionally inactive embryo into a fully functioning zygote. Despite extensive work on model species, it has not been possible to perform a comprehensive comparison of maternally-provisioned transcripts across the Bilateria because of the absence of a suitable dataset from the Lophotrochozoa. As part of an ongoing effort to identify the maternal gene that determines left-right asymmetry in snails, we have generated transcriptome data from 1 to 2-cell and ~32-cell pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis) embryos.

Plasma membrane-targeted PIN proteins drive shoot development in a moss.

Background: Plant body plans arise by the activity of meristematic growing tips during development and radiated independently in the gametophyte (n) and sporophyte (2n) stages of the life cycle during evolution. Although auxin and its intercellular transport by PIN family efflux carriers are primary regulators of sporophytic shoot development in flowering plants, the extent of conservation in PIN function within the land plants and the mechanisms regulating bryophyte gametophytic shoot development are largely unknown.

Results: We have found that treating gametophytic shoots of the moss Physcomitrella patens with exogenous auxins and auxin transport inhibitors disrupts apical function and leaf development.

RAD-Seq derived markers flank the shell colour and banding loci of the Cepaea nemoralis supergene.

Studies on the classic shell colour and banding polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea played a crucial role in establishing the importance of natural selection in maintaining morphological variation. Cepaea is also a pre-eminent model for ecological genetics because the outward colour and banding phenotype is entirely genetically determined, primarily by a 'supergene' of at least five loci. Unfortunately, progress in understanding the evolution and maintenance of the Cepaea polymorphism stalled, partly because of a lack of genetic markers.