Two small RNAs regulate the timing of Caenorhabditis elegans development 1 , 2 . Transition
from the first to the second larval stage fates requires the 22-nucleotide lin-4 RNA 1 , 3 , 4 , …

Long-held ideas regarding the evolutionary relationships among animals have recently been
upended by sometimes controversial hypotheses based largely on insights from molecular …

Sea anemones are seemingly primitive animals that, along with corals, jellyfish, and hydras,
constitute the oldest eumetazoan phylum, the Cnidaria. Here, we report a comparative …

A clear picture of animal relationships is a prerequisite to understand how the morphological
and ecological diversity of animals evolved over time. Among others, the placement of the …

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

The Wnt gene family encodes secreted signalling molecules that control cell fate in animal
development and human diseases 1 . Despite its significance, the evolution of this metazoan-…

Over 99% of modern animals are members of the evolutionary lineage Bilateria. The
evolutionary success of Bilateria is credited partly to the origin of bilateral symmetry. Although …

Animals have evolved diverse appendages adapted for locomotion, feeding and other
functions. The genetics underlying appendage formation are best understood in insects and …

Mesoderm played a crucial role in the radiation of the triploblastic Bilateria, permitting the
evolution of larger and more complex body plans than in the diploblastic, non-bilaterian …

The human oncogene β-catenin is a bifunctional protein with critical roles in both cell adhesion
and transcriptional regulation in the Wnt pathway 1 , 2 , 3 . Wnt/β-catenin signalling has …