title: Sea anemone genome reveals ancestral eumetazoan gene repertoire and genomic organization.
abstract: Sea anemones are seemingly primitive animals that, along with corals, jellyfish, and hydras, constitute the oldest eumetazoan phylum, the Cnidaria. Here, we report a comparative analysis of the draft genome of an emerging cnidarian model, the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. The sea anemone genome is complex, with a gene repertoire, exon-intron structure, and large-scale gene linkage more similar to vertebrates than to flies or nematodes, implying that the genome of the eumetazoan ancestor was similarly complex. Nearly one-fifth of the inferred genes of the ancestor are eumetazoan novelties, which are enriched for animal functions like cell signaling, adhesion, and synaptic transmission. Analysis of diverse pathways suggests that these gene "inventions" along the lineage leading to animals were likely already well integrated with preexisting eukaryotic genes in the eumetazoan progenitor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Putnam
authors.forename: Mansi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Uffe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hellsten
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dirks
authors.forename: Jarrod
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: Asaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salamov
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.forename: Harris
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lindquist
authors.forename: Vladimir V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Kapitonov
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jurka
authors.forename: Grigory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Genikhovich
authors.forename: Igor V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Grigoriev
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Steele
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Finnerty
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Technau
authors.forename: Mark Q
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Martindale
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Rokhsar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005796:Genes; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D016678:Genome; D015894:Genome, Human; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D005810:Multigene Family; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D010802:Phylogeny; D012615:Sea Anemones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction; D026801:Synteny