The origin of chaetognath body plan
After many years in the making, the chaetognath genome has been published in Nature, led by Laura Piovani with key contributions from Daria Gavriouchkina, Alex de Mendoza, Taichiro Goto and many others. Chaetognaths have barely changed their body shape since the Cambrian, yet their genome tells a very different story — one of extreme reshuffling, massive gene loss, and the invention of thousands of new genes. By combining the genome with single-cell transcriptomics and epigenetic data, we could link this unusual genomic history directly to the emergence of specialized cell types that make chaetognaths such effective predators.
A press release was issued by OIST, where part of this work was initiated.
This picture shows the sensory cell type involved in chaetognath predation (L. Piovani).