Morphogenesis of Fractofusus andersoni and the nature of early animal development

Frances. S. Dunn (), Philip C. J. Donoghue and Alexander G. Liu
Additional contact information
Frances. S. Dunn: University of Oxford
Philip C. J. Donoghue: University of Bristol
Alexander G. Liu: University of Cambridge

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Rangeomorphs are among the oldest anatomically complex macroscopic fossil organisms and, originating prior to 574 Ma, they represent the earliest total-group eumetazoans. Rangeomorph morphogenesis is therefore significant for understanding the early diversification of eumetazoan bodyplans. However, previous analyses of rangeomorph development have focused on uniterminal forms (possessing only one frond), leaving biterminal and multiterminal rangeomorph bodyplans poorly understood. We describe a population of the biterminal rangeomorph Fractofusus andersoni from the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve UNESCO World Heritage Site of Newfoundland, Canada, and construct a model of growth in F. andersoni that rationalises variation between Fractofusus, Charnia, Bradgatia and other rangeomorphs, providing a framework for explaining evolutionary transitions between the bodyplans of these members of the eumetazoan stem-group. Our results imply that complex developmental regulatory machinery was already being utilised during the late Ediacaran in the earliest-diverging eumetazoan taxa represented in the fossil record.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58605-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58605-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58605-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().