ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0857-1732
Current Organisation
University of Leicester
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Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 30-11-2015
Abstract: Clarifying the phylogeny of animals is fundamental to understanding their evolution. Traditionally, sponges have been considered the sister group of all other extant animals, but recent genomic studies have suggested comb jellies occupy that position instead. Here, we analyzed the current genomic evidence from comb jellies and found no convincing support for this hypothesis. Instead, when analyzed with appropriate methods, recent genomic data support the traditional hypothesis. We conclude that the alternative scenario of animal evolution according to which ctenophores evolved morphological complexity independently from cnidarians and bilaterians or, alternatively, sponges secondarily lost a nervous system, muscles, and other characters, is not supported by the available evidence.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 05-11-2021
Abstract: Sponges represent our distant animal relatives. They do not have a nervous system but do have a simple body for filter feeding. Surveying the cell types in the freshwater sponge Spongilla lacustris , Musser et al . found that many genes important in synaptic communication are expressed in cells of the small digestive chambers. They found secretory machinery characteristic of the presynapse in small multipolar cells contacting all other cells and also the receptive apparatus of the postsynapse in the choanocytes that generate water flow and digest microbial food. These results suggest that the first directed communication in animals may have evolved to regulate feeding, serving as a starting point on the long path toward nervous system evolution. —BAP
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 09-02-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-05-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-020-16284-8
Abstract: The evolution of winged insects revolutionized terrestrial ecosystems and led to the largest animal radiation on Earth. However, we still have an incomplete picture of the genomic changes that underlay this ersification. Mayflies, as one of the sister groups of all other winged insects, are key to understanding this radiation. Here, we describe the genome of the mayfly Cloeon dipterum and its gene expression throughout its aquatic and aerial life cycle and specific organs. We discover an expansion of odorant-binding-protein genes, some expressed specifically in breathing gills of aquatic nymphs, suggesting a novel sensory role for this organ. In contrast, flying adults use an enlarged opsin set in a sexually dimorphic manner, with some expressed only in males. Finally, we identify a set of wing-associated genes deeply conserved in the pterygote insects and find transcriptomic similarities between gills and wings, suggesting a common genetic program. Globally, this comprehensive genomic and transcriptomic study uncovers the genetic basis of key evolutionary adaptations in mayflies and winged insects.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2017.11.008
Abstract: The relationships at the root of the animal tree have proven difficult to resolve, with the current debate focusing on whether sponges (phylum Porifera) or comb jellies (phylum Ctenophora) are the sister group of all other animals [1-5]. The choice of evolutionary models seems to be at the core of the problem because Porifera tends to emerge as the sister group of all other animals ("Porifera-sister") when site-specific amino acid differences are modeled (e.g., [6, 7]), whereas Ctenophora emerges as the sister group of all other animals ("Ctenophora-sister") when they are ignored (e.g., [8-11]). We show that two key phylogenomic datasets that previously supported Ctenophora-sister [10, 12] display strong heterogeneity in amino acid composition across sites and taxa and that no routinely used evolutionary model can adequately describe both forms of heterogeneity. We show that data-recoding methods [13-15] reduce compositional heterogeneity in these datasets and that models accommodating site-specific amino acid preferences can better describe the recoded datasets. Increased model adequacy is associated with significant topological changes in support of Porifera-sister. Because adequate modeling of the evolutionary process that generated the data is fundamental to recovering an accurate phylogeny [16-20], our results strongly support sponges as the sister group of all other animals and provide further evidence that Ctenophora-sister represents a tree reconstruction artifact. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 08-04-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.08.536076
Abstract: Whole genome duplications (WGDs) are major events that drastically reshape genome architecture and are causally associated with organismal innovations and radiations 1 . The 2R Hypothesis suggests that two WGD events (1R and 2R) occurred during early vertebrate evolution 2, 3 . However, the veracity and timing of the 2R event relative to the ergence of gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) and cyclostomes (jawless hagfishes and l reys) is unresolved 4–6 and whether these WGD events underlie vertebrate phenotypic ersification remains elusive 7 . Here we present the genome of the inshore hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri . Through comparative analysis with l rey and gnathostome genomes, we reconstruct the early events in cyclostome genome evolution, leveraging insights into the ancestral vertebrate genome. Genome-wide synteny and phylogenetic analyses support a scenario in which 1R occurred in the vertebrate stem-lineage during the early Cambrian, and the 2R event occurred in the gnathostome stem-lineage in the late Cambrian after its ergence from cyclostomes. We find that the genome of stem-cyclostomes experienced two additional, independent genome duplications (herein CR1 and CR2). Functional genomic and morphospace analyses demonstrate that WGD events generally contribute to developmental evolution with similar changes in the regulatory genome of both vertebrate groups. However, appreciable morphological ersification occurred only after the 2R event, questioning the general expectation that WGDs lead to leaps of morphological complexity 7 .
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 05-09-2019
DOI: 10.1101/758276
Abstract: The evolutionary origin of metazoan cell types such as neurons, muscles, digestive, and immune cells, remains unsolved. Using whole-body single-cell RNA sequencing in a sponge, an animal without nervous system and musculature, we identify 18 distinct cell types comprising four major families. This includes nitric-oxide sensitive contractile cells, digestive cells active in macropinocytosis, and a family of amoeboid-neuroid cells involved in innate immunity. We uncover ‘presynaptic’ genes in an amoeboid-neuroid cell type, and ‘postsynaptic’ genes in digestive choanocytes, suggesting asymmetric and targeted communication. Corroborating this, long neurite-like extensions from neuroid cells directly contact and enwrap choanocyte microvillar collars. Our data indicate a link between neuroid and immune functions in sponges, and suggest that a primordial neuro-immune system cleared intruders and controlled ciliary beating for feeding.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Roberto Feuda.