Comparative Developmental Transcriptomics Reveals Rewiring of a Highly Conserved Gene Regulatory Network during a Major Life History Switch in the Sea Urchin Genus Heliocidaris.

ABSTRACT: The ecologically significant shift in developmental strategy from planktotrophic (feeding) to lecithotrophic (nonfeeding) development in the sea urchin genus Heliocidaris is one of the most comprehensively studied life history transitions in any animal. Although the evolution of lecithotrophy involved substantial changes to larval development and morphology, it is not known to what extent changes in gene expression underlie the developmental differences between species, nor do we understand how these changes evolved within the context of the well-defined gene regulatory network (GRN) underlying sea urchin development. To address these questions, we used RNA-seq to measure expression dynamics across development in three species: the lecithotroph Heliocidaris erythrogramma, the closely relat

SUBMITTER: Israel JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4778923 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature