title: CNS evolution: new insight from the mud.
abstract: Whether the highly centralised nervous systems of chordates and protostomes arose from a common ancestral precursor or independently has been a long-standing debate. Now, analysis of neural gene expression in an evolutionarily important chordate outgroup--the sand-dwelling, hemichordate acorn worms--reveals the presence of a central and peripheral nervous system, suggesting a common origin of central nervous systems.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Elia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benito-Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Detlev
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arendt
mesh_terms: D000717:Anatomy, Comparative; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D043344:Chordata / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010802:Phylogeny