Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Evolutionary Reconfiguration of Embryonic Cell Fate Specification in the Sea Urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma.

ABSTRACT: Altered regulatory interactions during development likely underlie a large fraction of phenotypic diversity within and between species, yet identifying specific evolutionary changes remains challenging. Analysis of single-cell developmental transcriptomes from multiple species provides a powerful framework for unbiased identification of evolutionary changes in developmental mechanisms. Here, we leverage a "natural experiment" in developmental evolution in sea urchins, where a major life history switch recently evolved in the lineage leading to Heliocidaris erythrogramma, precipitating extensive changes in early development. Comparative analyses of single-cell transcriptome analysis (scRNA-seq) developmental time courses from H. erythrogramma and Lytechinus variegatus (representing the deri

SUBMITTER: Massri AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11719709 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature