Cnidarian milestones in metazoan evolution

Cnidarian milestones in metazoan evolution.

Cnidarians display most of the characters considered as milestones of metazoan evolution. Whereas a tissue-level organization was probably already present in the multicellular common ancestor of all animals, the Urmetazoa, the emergence of important animal features such as bilateral symmetry, triploblasty, a polarized nervous system, sense organs (eyes, statocysts), and a (chitinous or calcium-...

Basal Metazoan Sensory Evolution

Molecular and functional evidence for early divergence of an endothelin-like system during metazoan evolution: analysis of the Cnidarian, hydra.

A novel putative endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE) has been cloned from hydra, a freshwater invertebrate that belongs to the second oldest phylum of the animal kingdom. As an integral component of the endothelin system, vertebrate ECE functions in the activation of endothelin (ET) peptides. Vertebrate ETs are (1) the most potent vasoconstrictors known in mammals; and (2) function as essential ...

Evolution of polydom-like molecules: identification and characterization of cnidarian polydom (Cnpolydom) in the basal metazoan Hydractinia.

End sequencing of random BAC clones from a Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) genomic library revealed a gene across a approximately 37.5kb region of the H. symbiolongicarpus genome sharing highest sequence identity and domain architecture to mammalian polydom that we in turn named cnidarian polydom (CnPolydom). Sharing all eight domain types characteristic of polydom and organi...

The Hedgehog gene family of the cnidarian, Nematostella vectensis, and implications for understanding metazoan Hedgehog pathway evolution.

Hedgehog signaling is an important component of cell-cell communication during bilaterian development, and abnormal Hedgehog signaling contributes to disease and birth defects. Hedgehog genes are composed of a ligand ("hedge") domain and an autocatalytic intein ("hog") domain. Hedgehog (hh) ligands bind to a conserved set of receptors and activate downstream signal transduction pathways termina...