TWO DECADES OF FIELD-BUILDING
From finding the right branches of the tree to sequencing their genomes, reading their regulatory systems and making their biology experimentally accessible.
Explore the turning points↓THE LONG EXPERIMENT
The organism should not define the question. The question should lead us to the right organism. Ours is fundamental: how did multicellular animals evolve?
turning points
in view
Core components of integrin-mediated adhesion and signalling were found outside animals, revealing that a central multicellular toolkit has deep unicellular roots.
PNASAncient origin of the integrin-mediated adhesion and signaling machinery↗The basic repertoire of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases was already established before filastereans separated from animals and choanoflagellates, while receptor tyrosine kinases diversified independently in each lineage.
Science SignalingGenomic survey of premetazoans shows deep conservation of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases and multiple radiations of receptor tyrosine kinases↗Its genome exposed a richer prehistory of adhesion and transcriptional regulation—and showed why animal origins cannot be reconstructed from choanoflagellates alone.
Nature CommunicationsThe Capsaspora genome reveals a complex unicellular prehistory of animals↗
Cell transformation and targeted gene silencing were established for the first time in a close unicellular relative of animals, revealing synchronized nuclear division and development from a multinucleate syncytium.
Developmental BiologyDevelopment of ichthyosporeans sheds light on the origin of metazoan multicellularity↗
Capsaspora Brachyury partially rescued disrupted Brachyury function in Xenopus embryos, demonstrating deep functional conservation while exposing a crucial change in target specificity at the origin of animals.
PNASEarly evolution of the T-box transcription factor family↗Taxon-rich phylogenomics resolved key opisthokont relationships and revealed repeated changes in lifestyle, flagella and feeding across the branches around animals and fungi.
Current BiologyPhylogenomics reveals convergent evolution of lifestyles in close relatives of animals and fungi↗The first dynamic regulatory and epigenomic atlas in a close unicellular relative showed ancient transcription-factor networks—and helped identify distal enhancers as an animal innovation.
CellThe dynamic regulatory genome of Capsaspora and the origin of animal multicellularity↗
Proteomics and phosphoproteomics revealed extensive remodelling across Capsaspora’s life stages, connecting ancestral signalling to cell differentiation before animals.
Developmental CellHigh-throughput proteomics reveals the unicellular roots of animal phosphosignaling and cell differentiation↗Comparative genomes showed that the animal toolkit emerged through successive gains, losses and repurposing across several unicellular lineages—not in a single burst.
eLifeDynamics of genomic innovation in the unicellular ancestry of animals↗Transient transfection opened direct functional experiments in a filasterean, transforming comparative genomics into testable cell biology.
DevelopmentTransfection of Capsaspora owczarzaki, a close unicellular relative of animals↗Sphaeroforma’s coenocytic cycle became experimentally tractable, showing periodic nuclear divisions followed by coordinated cellularisation.
Current BiologyDecoupling of nuclear division cycles and cell size during the coenocytic growth of the ichthyosporean Sphaeroforma arctica↗
Four strategically placed genomes revealed opposite ancestral trajectories: gene accumulation along the animal stem and extensive loss along the fungal stem.
NatureDivergent genomic trajectories predate the origin of animals and fungi↗
Defined chemical cues induced reproducible Capsaspora aggregation, turning reversible multicellularity into an experimentally accessible behaviour.
PNASChemical factors induce aggregative multicellularity in a close unicellular relative of animals↗
CRISPR–Cas9 editing, including gene inactivation and targeted repair, made Corallochytrium a functional model for a lineage represented by no other cultured species.
Open BiologyCRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in Corallochytrium limacisporum↗
Ministeria forms stable, reproducible aggregates and deploys animal-related adhesion, signalling and regulatory genes—supporting an ancient role for aggregation in animal origins.
NatureA unicellular relative links aggregative multicellularity to animal origins↗A LIVING HISTORY
This is a curated history, not a complete publication list. The full archive will connect every paper to its organisms, data, methods and people.
