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SUMMARY:Multicellular genes in unicellular lineages- how comparative genom
 ics is modifying our view on metazoan origins - Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo\, ICREA
 \, Department of Genetics\, University of Barcelona
DTSTART:20110516T120000Z
DTEND:20110516T130000Z
UID:TALK31225@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alan Marron
DESCRIPTION:The emergence of multicellular animals or metazoans from their
  single-celled ancestors is one of the most important evolutionary transit
 ions in the history\nof life. However\, little is known about how this tra
 nsition took place. Thus\, a multi-taxon genome-sequencing initiative\, na
 med UNICORN\, was launched with the aim to gain insights into metazoan ori
 gins. Recent genome data from the UNICORN project has identified a rich ge
 netic repertoire of “multicellular” genes in\nunicellular relatives of
  metazoans. For example\, the amoeba Capsaspora owczarzaki\, a close relat
 ive to metazoans\, encodes both cadherins and integrins\, which are absent
  in plants and fungi and which were thought to be metazoan-specific. Moreo
 ver\, the genome of Capsaspora encodes transcription factors that are key 
 to animal development\, such as T-box genes or Runx\, as\nwell as dozens o
 f protein tyrosine kinases. These findings challenge previous views in whi
 ch the origin of metazoan multicellularity was thought to be\naccompanied 
 by the invention and diversification of genes families specifically involv
 ed in multicellularity. These findings open new questions\, such as the ro
 le those “multicellular” genes are playing in an unicellular context\,
  and how were they co-adapted into the new (multicellular) functions. Curr
 ent and future efforts to answer those questions will be discussed.\n
LOCATION:First Floor Seminar Room\, Department of Zoology \, Downing Stree
 t\, CB2 3EJ
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