Comparative transcriptomics reveal the common anteroposterior molecular blueprint of adult bilaterian guts.

ABSTRACT: A through-gut is one of the major features of bilaterians. Comparative work among bilaterians has identified common molecular mechanisms during early gut patterning, but the primordial gut later often undergoes different degrees of reorganization in each lineage to form a fully differentiated adult gut with specializations along its anteroposterior (AP) axis. Yet, how the conserved embryonic gut AP pattern relates to the adult guts in diverse bilaterians after metamorphosis is still poorly understood. To unravel the molecular subdivisions of adult guts, we investigated the gut through transcriptomic analyses of five phylogenetically informative species: an annelid, a sea urchin, a hemichordate, a cephalochordate, and a vertebrate. We identified bipartite transcriptional programs defining t

SUBMITTER: Vianello SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12768270 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature