Introduction An understanding of ctenophore biology is critical for reconstructing events that
occurred early in animal evolution. The phylogenetic relationship of ctenophores (comb …

Loss of sexual reproduction is considered an evolutionary dead end for metazoans, but
bdelloid rotifers challenge this view as they appear to have persisted asexually for millions of …

Background The phylogeny of Cnidaria has been a source of debate for decades, during
which nearly all-possible relationships among the major lineages have been proposed. The …

Animals are grouped into ~35 ‘phyla’ based upon the notion of distinct body plans 1 , 2 , 3 ,
4 . Morphological and molecular analyses have revealed that a stage in the middle of …

Background Hox genes were critical to many morphological innovations of bilaterian
animals. However, early Hox evolution remains obscure. Phylogenetic, developmental, and …

In recent years, a handful of model systems from the basal metazoan phylum Cnidaria have
emerged to challenge long‐held views on the evolution of animal complexity. The most‐…

The Breast Cancer Information Core (BIC) is an open access, on‐line mutation database for
breast cancer susceptibility genes. In addition to creating a catalogue of all mutations and …

Background Homeodomain transcription factors are key components in the developmental
toolkits of animals. While this gene superclass predates the evolutionary split between …

Background The much-debated phylogenetic relationships of the five early branching
metazoan lineages (Bilateria, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Placozoa and Porifera) are of fundamental …

Subthreshold digital circuits minimize energy per operation and are thus ideal for ultralow-power
(ULP) applications with low performance requirements. However, a large range of ULP …