BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Axial homologies re-examined:  a common ground plan at the base of
  Eumetazoa - Heather Marlow\, EMBL Heidelberg\, Germany
DTSTART:20111123T130000Z
DTEND:20111123T140000Z
UID:TALK33888@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Vera Hunnekuhl
DESCRIPTION:Axial homologies re-examined: a common ground plan at the base
  of Eumetazoa\n\nOf the roughly 35 to 40 extant metazoan phyla\, nearly al
 l maintain marine representatives with biphasic lifestyles consisting of a
  pelagic larval dispersal phase and an adult benthic phase.  Many conflict
 ing scenarios regarding the emergence and loss of benthic forms have been 
 proposed\, but it has remained relatively unclear whether the first bilate
 rian animals were benthic\, pelagic or ancestrally bi-phasic in regard to 
 life history. We have assessed shared features of marine larvae and find s
 triking similarity in the molecular topology\, the cell types and the blas
 toporally localized signaling that form the apical organ.  While conservat
 ion in wholesale patterning and cell type complement is evident for all pr
 imary larvae investigated\, the similarities are most striking for species
  such as the annelid Platynereis\, the hemichordate Saccoglossus\, and the
  cnidarian Nematostella which undergo a gradual transition from larvae to 
 adults.  We would therefore propose that the last common ancestor of cnida
 rians and bilaterians had a “minimally indirect developing larvae” tha
 t underwent a similarly gradual settlement transition.  We are currently i
 nvestigating the gene regulatory network that gives rise to this conserved
  apical plate in the annelid Platynereis through the analysis of whole gen
 ome ChIP-seq datasets and are expanding our comparative analysis to includ
 e apical plate patterning in Cnidarian planula and other lophotrochozoan l
 arvae.  We have also conducted a re-examination of gut and coelom patterni
 ng in several taxa to gain insight into the evolution of endomesodermal pa
 tterning.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR