Evolution of mechanisms controlling epithelial morphogenesis across animals: new insights from dissociation-reaggregation experiments in the sponge Oscarella lobularis.

Background: The ancestral presence of epithelia in Metazoa is no longer debated. Porifera seem to be one of the best candidates to be the sister group to all other Metazoa. This makes them a key taxon to explore cell-adhesion evolution on animals.

New genomic data and analyses challenge the traditional vision of animal epithelium evolution.

Background: The emergence of epithelia was the foundation of metazoan expansion. Epithelial tissues are a hallmark of metazoans deeply rooted in the evolution of their complex developmental morphogenesis processes. However, studies on the epithelial features of non-bilaterians are still sparse and it remains unclear whether the last common metazoan ancestor possessed a fully functional epithelial toolkit or if it was acquired later during metazoan evolution.

Crumbs, Moesin and Yurt regulate junctional stability and dynamics for a proper morphogenesis of the Drosophila pupal wing epithelium.

The Crumbs (Crb) complex is a key epithelial determinant. To understand its role in morphogenesis, we examined its function in the Drosophila pupal wing, an epithelium undergoing hexagonal packing and formation of planar-oriented hairs. Crb distribution is dynamic, being stabilized to the subapical region just before hair formation.

Draft Genome Sequence of an Alphaproteobacterium Associated with the Mediterranean Sponge Oscarella lobularis.

While sequencing DNA purified from the homoscleromorph sponge Oscarella lobularis, we detected a large number of reads with strong similarity to available alphaproteobacteria gene sequences of family Rhodobacteraceae. Here, we present the genome sequence of this putative sponge symbiont that we propose to designate as "Candidatus Rhodobacter lobularis."

Mitochondrial Genome Sequence of the Glass Sponge Oopsacas minuta.

We report the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the Mediterranean glass sponge Oopsacas minuta. This 19-kb mitochondrial genome has 24 noncoding genes (22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs) and 14 protein-encoding genes coding for 11 subunits of respiratory chain complexes and 3 ATP synthase subunits.