ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2019
Reconstruction of protein domain evolution using single-cell amplified genomes of uncultured choanoflagellates sheds light on the origin of animals.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Signatures of gene transfer in the parallel evolution of osmotrophic specialization in eukaryotes.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Septins regulate cytokinesis and multicellular development in the closest living relatives of animals.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A smartphone analogy to explore the origin of animals.The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- G-protein-coupled receptor diversity and evolution in the closest living relatives of metazoa.eLife · 2025Article
- Evolution of the Metazoan Protein Domain Repertoire Revealed by a Birth-Death-Gain Model.Journal of molecular evolution · 2025Article
- A red algal polysaccharide influences the multicellular development of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- The Early Evolution of Tudor Genes in Holozoa and How Their Distribution Was Influenced by Life History Traits in Metazoa.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Renal Intercalated Cells: Alien Cells Inside Us?Biology · 2025Review
- A taxon-rich and genome-scale phylogeny of Opisthokonta.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Ichthyosporea: a window into the origin of animals.Communications biology · 2024Review
- An RFX transcription factor regulates ciliogenesis in the closest living relatives of animals.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- A Novel Group of Dynamin-Related Proteins Shared by Eukaryotes and Giant Viruses Is Able to Remodel Mitochondria From Within the Matrix.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Gene loss during a transition to multicellularity.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- An Evolutionary Perspective on the Origin, Conservation and Binding Partner Acquisition of Tankyrases.Biomolecules · 2022Article
- Evidence that nuclear receptors are related to terpene synthases.Journal of molecular endocrinology · 2022Article
- Article
- Comparative genomics reveals new functional insights in uncultured MAST species.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Benchmarking orthology methods using phylogenetic patterns defined at the base of Eukaryotes.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2021Article
- A structural signature motif enlightens the origin and diversification of nuclear receptors.PLoS genetics · 2021Article
- Detection of horizontal gene transfer in the genome of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
Understanding the origins of animal multicellularity is a fundamental biological question. Recent genome data have unravelled the role that co-option of pre-existing genes played in the origin of animals. However, there were also some important genetic novelties at the onset of Metazoa. To have a clear understanding of the specific genetic innovations and how they appeared, we need the broadest taxon sampling possible, especially among early-branching animals and their unicellular relatives. Here, we take advantage of single-cell genomics to expand our understanding of the genomic diversity of choanoflagellates, the sister-group to animals. With these genomes, we have performed an updated and taxon-rich reconstruction of protein evolution from the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA) to animals. Our novel data re-defines the origin of some genes previously thought to be metazoan-specific, like the POU transcription factor, which we show appeared earlier in evolution. Moreover, our data indicate that the acquisition of new genes at the stem of Metazoa was mainly driven by duplications and protein domain rearrangement processes at the stem of Metazoa. Furthermore, our analysis allowed us to reveal protein domains that are essential to the maintenance of animal multicellularity. Our analyses also demonstrate the utility of single-cell genomics from uncultured taxa to address evolutionary questions. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Single cell ecology'.
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