The Capsaspora genome reveals a complex unicellular prehistory of animals

Hiroshi Suga, Zehua Chen, Alex de Mendoza, Arnau Sebé-Pedrós, Matthew W. Brown, Eric Kramer, Martin Carr, Pierre Kerner, Michel Vervoort, Núria Sánchez-Pons, Guifré Torruella, Romain Derelle, Gerard Manning, B. Franz Lang, Carsten Russ, Brian J. Haas, Andrew J. Roger, Chad Nusbaum and Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo ()
Additional contact information
Hiroshi Suga: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49
Zehua Chen: Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alex de Mendoza: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49
Arnau Sebé-Pedrós: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49
Matthew W. Brown: Faculty of Medicine, Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics, Dalhousie University
Eric Kramer: Razavi Newman Center for Bioinformatics, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Martin Carr: School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield
Pierre Kerner: Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, UMR 7592, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité
Michel Vervoort: Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, UMR 7592, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité
Núria Sánchez-Pons: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49
Guifré Torruella: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49
Romain Derelle: Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)
Gerard Manning: Razavi Newman Center for Bioinformatics, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
B. Franz Lang: Centre Robert-Cedergren, Université de Montréal, 2900 Boulevard Edouard Montpetit
Carsten Russ: Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Brian J. Haas: Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew J. Roger: Faculty of Medicine, Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics, Dalhousie University
Chad Nusbaum: Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract To reconstruct the evolutionary origin of multicellular animals from their unicellular ancestors, the genome sequences of diverse unicellular relatives are essential. However, only the genome of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis has been reported to date. Here we completely sequence the genome of the filasterean Capsaspora owczarzaki, the closest known unicellular relative of metazoans besides choanoflagellates. Analyses of this genome alter our understanding of the molecular complexity of metazoans’ unicellular ancestors showing that they had a richer repertoire of proteins involved in cell adhesion and transcriptional regulation than previously inferred only with the choanoflagellate genome. Some of these proteins were secondarily lost in choanoflagellates. In contrast, most intercellular signalling systems controlling development evolved later concomitant with the emergence of the first metazoans. We propose that the acquisition of these metazoan-specific developmental systems and the co-option of pre-existing genes drove the evolutionary transition from unicellular protists to metazoans.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3325

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