engleski

Insights into the origins of animal complexity from a basal metazoan: Genome of the endemic cave sponge Eunapius subterraneus

The amazing complexity of metazoan genomes originated early in the evolution of the animal kingdom. Rapid advances of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and bioinformatic data analysis are enabling elucidation of early metazoan gene regulation and development. Sponges have a unique evolutionary position of being the simplest and arguably the earliest branching metazoans, and are therefore critical for understanding the genomic traits of the ancestor of metazoa - the first multicellular animal. However, available genomic data from the phylum Porifera is still very scarce. We sequenced the genome of the freshwater sponge Eunapius subterraneus, Sket & Velikonja, 1984 using a combination of NGS methods (Illumina and Oxford Nanopore) and assembled a draft version of its genome. Eunapius subterraneus is the only cave-adapted sponge species, known from only a small region in Croatia. The sponge possess unique morphological and ecological features. Using the -omics methodologies in combination with experimental approaches we aim to advance our understanding of 1. basic processes involved in multicellular development and differentiation and 2. the process of adaptation to different environmental conditions. Financial support by the Croatian National Science Foundation (Project No. 6400) is gratefully acknowledged.

genomics ; basal metazoa

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