Cell fate specification modes shape transcriptome evolution in the highly conserved spiral cleavage.

ABSTRACT: Early animal development can be remarkably variable, influenced by lineage-specific reproductive strategies and adaptations. Yet, early embryogenesis is also strikingly conserved in certain groups, such as Spiralia. In this clade, a shared cleavage program (i.e., spiral cleavage) and similar cell lineages are ancestral to at least seven phyla. Why early development is so conserved in specific groups and plastic in others is not fully understood. Here, we investigated two annelid species (Owenia fusiformis and Capitella teleta) with spiral cleavage but different modes of specifying their primary progenitor cells. By generating high-resolution transcriptomic time courses from the oocyte to gastrulation, we demonstrate that transcriptional dynamics differ markedly between these species during

SUBMITTER: Liang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12550047 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature