Suga, Hiroshi, Chen, Zehua, de Mendoza, Alex, Sebé-Pedrós, Arnau, Brown, Matthew W., Kramer, Eric, Carr, Martin, Kerner, Pierre, Vervoort, Michel, Sánchez-Pons, Núria, Torruella, Guifré, Derelle, Romain, Manning, Gerard, Lang, B. Franz, Russ, Carsten, Haas, Brian J., Roger, Andrew J., Nusbaum, Chad and Ruiz-Trillo, Iñaki (2013) The Capsaspora genome reveals a complex unicellular prehistory of animals. Nature Communications, 4. pp. 1-9. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract

To reconstruct the evolutionary origin of multicellular animals from their unicellular ancestors, the genome sequences of diverse unicellular relatives are essential. However, only the genome of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis has been reported to date. Here we completely sequence the genome of the filasterean Capsaspora owczarzaki, the closest known unicellular relative of metazoans besides choanoflagellates. Analyses of this genome alter our understanding of the molecular complexity of metazoans’ unicellular ancestors showing that they had a richer repertoire of proteins involved in cell adhesion and transcriptional regulation than previously inferred only with the choanoflagellate genome. Some of these proteins were secondarily lost in choanoflagellates. In contrast, most intercellular signalling systems controlling development evolved later concomitant with the emergence of the first metazoans. We propose that the acquisition of these metazoan-specific developmental systems and the co-option of pre-existing genes drove the evolutionary transition from unicellular protists to metazoans.

Information
Library
Documents
[img]
Preview
ncomms3325.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (931kB) | Preview
Statistics

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email