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Related Experiment Videos

Coral development: from classical embryology to molecular control.

Eldon E Ball1, David C Hayward, John S Reece-Hoyes

  • 1Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. eldon.ball@anu.edu.au

The International Journal of Developmental Biology
|July 27, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Cnidarians, like the coral Acropora millepora, provide key evolutionary insights. Studying their gene families and development helps understand the origins of complex animal body plans and nervous systems.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary developmental biology
  • Comparative genomics
  • Marine biology

Background:

  • Cnidarians represent the closest outgroup to triploblastic metazoans, offering crucial insights into early animal evolution.
  • Understanding cnidarian gene complements is vital for tracing the evolution of morphological complexity and gene family expansion.
  • Cnidarian development studies illuminate the origins of bilaterian body axes, mesoderm, and nervous system patterning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate evolutionary questions using the cnidarian Acropora millepora as a model organism.
  • To explore the relationship between gene family evolution and morphological complexity in metazoans.
  • To provide molecular data on the origins of key bilaterian developmental features.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Review of descriptive embryology in Acropora millepora.
  • Analysis of selected transcription factor gene families in Acropora.
  • Description of a preliminary whole genome sequencing initiative and coral expressed sequence tag (EST) database.

    • Main Results:

    • Detailed knowledge of Acropora millepora embryology and specific gene families has been advanced.
    • A preliminary genomic resource (EST database) for Acropora is established.
    • Comparative data highlights Acropora's utility in evolutionary studies.

    Conclusions:

    • Acropora millepora serves as a valuable model for understanding fundamental evolutionary processes in metazoans.
    • Genomic and transcriptomic data from cnidarians are essential for future evolutionary and developmental biology research.
    • This work lays the foundation for future studies on the genetic basis of morphological evolution.