www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 344 2 MAY 2014 COVER A blood star (Henricia leviuscula) near Whidbey Island, Washington state. It is one of 10 species of sea star that appear to be affected by a mysterious wasting syndrome on the west and east coasts of North America. Various levels of mortality have been confi rmed in 10 other species, making this the largest documented die-off of echinoderms. ...

Phylogeographic studies designed to estimate rates and patterns of genetic differentiation within species often reveal unexpected and graphically striking cases of allele or haplotype sharing between species (introgression) via hybridization and backcrossing. Does introgression between species significantly influence population genetic structure relative to more conventional sources of differen...

The genome sequence of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a large and long-lived invertebrate, provides a new perspective on animal immunity. Analysis of this genome uncovered a highly complex immune system in which the gene families that encode homologs of the pattern recognition receptors that form the core of vertebrate innate immunity are encoded in large multigene famili...

Fucoidans are a class of sulfated fucose-rich polysaccharides found in brown marine algae and echinoderms. Fucoidans have an attractive array of bioactivities and potential applications including immune modulation, cancer inhibition, and pathogen inhibition. Research into fucoidan has continued to gain pace over the last few years and point towards potential therapeutic or adjunct roles. The so...

The nucleotide sequences of 5S rRNA from three echinoderms, a sea-cucumber Stichopus oshimae, a starfish Asterina pectinifera and a sea-urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus have been determined. These 5S rRNAs are all 120 nucleotides long. The echinoderm sequences are more related to the sequences of proterostomes animals such as mollusc, annelids and some others (87% identity on average) than to ...

The phylogenetic location of hemichordates is unique because they seem to fill an evolutionary gap between echinoderms and chordates. We report here characterization of Pf-otx, a hemichordate ortholog of otx, with its embryonic and larval expression pattern. Pf-otx is initially expressed in the vegetal plate of the blastula. Expression remains evident in the archenteron through gastrulation and...

species identification is always important. records of sea urchins and sand dollars species ‎‎(echinodermata, echinoidea) is given from iranian waters. nine species of echinoderms were ‎identified through the study. the species identification was made using morphological ‎characteristics and review of checklist key. nine species were identified here, including ‎echinometra mathaei, prionocidari...

Introduction: The present work constitutes the first record of Ubaghsicystis Gil-Cid & Domínguez-Alonso (Echinodermata-Eocrinoidea) in El Gavilán Formation, exposed Sahuaral Hill, a new Cambrian locality central Sonora, Mexico. Formation is sedimentary sequence mainly made up shale interbedded with limestone, abundant invertebrate fossils, deposited an open shelf marine environment. Objecti...