ArticleScience (New York, N.Y.)2021
Profiling cellular diversity in sponges informs animal cell type and nervous system evolution.
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Article in Science (New York, N.Y.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 126 papers.
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126citing papers in PubMed
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126 citing papers in PubMed.
- Unicellular and Multicellular Modes of Selection Impose Distinct Constraints on Cellular Phenotype Evolution.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Distinct cell states define larval and adult body plans in a hemichordate.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Pesci: fast and user-friendly software to compare single-cell gene expression across species.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- A screen for stress-induced sleep genes in Caenorhabditis elegans reveals a role for glutamate signaling.Genetics · 2026Article
- Ancient conservation of androglobin expression reveals its evolutionary link to ciliary processes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Co-option of Lysosomal Machinery for Sponge Biosilicification.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Reference-free discovery with barcoded single-cell sequencing.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- Mesoglea biogenesis reveals a cryptic aboral valve for pressure regulation in cnidarian morphogenesis.Science advances · 2026Article
- Review
- An Advanced Mobile Laboratory to enable field-based microbial ecology and cell biology across scales.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A cellular basis for the hourglass pattern in vertebrate embryogenesis.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Parameter-free representations outperform single-cell foundation models on downstream benchmarks.ArXiv · 2026Article
- Parameter-free representations outperform single-cell foundation models on downstream benchmarks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Early transcription factor activation distinguishes symbiotic from non-symbiotic bacteria during microbiome processing in a sponge.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Oxygen regulation in the earliest animals: spatiotemporal resolution of oxygen dynamics in single-osculumFrontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Validating the classics: Accurate reference gene panel for reliable RT-qPCR in Porifera.PloS one · 2026Article
- Decoding cnidarian cell type gene regulation.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Looking back: tracing the origins of sleep across the animal kingdom.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- What comparative endocrinology tells us about the original function of the insulin superfamily.Endocrine journal · 2025Review
66 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
37 authors.
Jacob M MusserDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-6163-5152
Klaske J SchippersDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-1605-3372
Michael NickelDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Giulia MizzonElectron Microscopy Core Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-9392-9748
Andrea B KohnWhitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL 32080, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6545-9371
Constantin PapeCell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Paolo RonchiElectron Microscopy Core Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-9010-533X
Nikolaos PapadopoulosDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7711-2287
Alexander J TarashanskyDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Jörg U HammelFriedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung mit Phyletischem Museum, Ernst-Haeckel-Haus und Biologiedidaktik, 07743 Jena, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-6744-6811
Florian WolfFriedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung mit Phyletischem Museum, Ernst-Haeckel-Haus und Biologiedidaktik, 07743 Jena, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7251-2951
Cong LiangCenter for Applied Mathematics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.ORCID 0000-0001-7191-8458
Ana Hernández-PlazaCentro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), 28223 Madrid, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-9844-7999
Carlos P CantalapiedraCentro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), 28223 Madrid, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-5263-533X
Kaia AchimDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3723-4065
Nicole L SchieberCell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-3212-5057
Leslie PanDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2408-4259
Fabian RupertiDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-0724-3262
Warren R FrancisDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Paleontology & Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80333 München, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3473-4726
Sergio VargasDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Paleontology & Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80333 München, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-8704-1339
Svenja KlingDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-5109-2521
Maike RenkertDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-4809-4216
Maxim PolikarpovHamburg Unit c/o DESY, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg, 22607 Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-4624-4356
Gleb BourenkovHamburg Unit c/o DESY, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg, 22607 Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2617-5920
Roberto FeudaDepartment of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-0857-1732
Imre GasparDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-6527-637X
Pawel BurkhardtSars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, University of Bergen, 5008 Bergen, Norway.ORCID 0000-0001-9826-057X
Bo WangDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8880-1432
Peer BorkStructural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2627-833X
Martin BeckStructural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7397-1321
Thomas R SchneiderHamburg Unit c/o DESY, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg, 22607 Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6955-7374
Anna KreshukCell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1334-6388
Gert WörheideGeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80333 München, Germany.
Jaime Huerta-CepasCentro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), 28223 Madrid, Spain.
Yannick SchwabElectron Microscopy Core Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-8027-1836
Leonid L MorozWhitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL 32080, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1333-3176
Detlev ArendtDevelopmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7833-050X
Funding
Neuron-SELEX: Development of neuron-specific nanoscale toolkits for single-cell recognitionR01NS114491 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · PI MOROZ, LEONID L · 2020 to 2024
$2.0MNINDS NIH HHS R01 NS114491
Abstract
The evolutionary origin of metazoan cell types such as neurons and muscles is not known. Using whole-body single-cell RNA sequencing in a sponge, an animal without nervous system and musculature, we identified 18 distinct cell types. These include nitric oxide–sensitive contractile pinacocytes, amoeboid phagocytes, and secretory neuroid cells that reside in close contact with digestive choanocytes that express scaffolding and receptor proteins. Visualizing neuroid cells by correlative x-ray and electron microscopy revealed secretory vesicles and cellular projections enwrapping choanocyte microvilli and cilia. Our data show a communication system that is organized around sponge digestive chambers, using conserved modules that became incorporated into the pre- and postsynapse in the nervous systems of other animals.
Indexed as
Biological EvolutionAnimalsCell CommunicationCell Surface ExtensionsCiliaDigestive SystemMesodermNervous SystemNervous System Physiological PhenomenaNitric OxidePoriferaRNA-SeqSecretory VesiclesSignal TransductionSingle-Cell AnalysisTranscriptomeNitric Oxide
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