The dynamic genome of Hydra.
The freshwater cnidarian Hydra was first described in 1702 and has been the object of study for 300 years. Experimental studies of Hydra between 1736 and 1744 culminated in the discovery of asexual reproduction of an animal by budding, the first description of regeneration in an animal, and successful transplantation of tissue between animals. Today, Hydra is an important model for studies of axial patterning, stem cell biology and regeneration. Here we report the genome of Hydra magnipapillata and compare it to the genomes of the anthozoan Nematostella vectensis and other animals. The Hydra genome has been shaped by bursts of transposable element expansion, horizontal gene transfer, trans-splicing, and simplification of gene structure and gene content that parallel simplification of the Hydra life cycle. We also report the sequence of the genome of a novel bacterium stably associated with H. magnipapillata. Comparisons of the Hydra genome to the genomes of other animals shed light on the evolution of epithelia, contractile tissues, developmentally regulated transcription factors, the Spemann-Mangold organizer, pluripotency genes and the neuromuscular junction.
Chapman
Jarrod A
JA
US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
Kirkness
Ewen F
EF
Simakov
Oleg
O
Hampson
Steven E
SE
Mitros
Therese
T
Weinmaier
Thomas
T
Rattei
Thomas
T
Balasubramanian
Prakash G
PG
Borman
Jon
J
Busam
Dana
D
Disbennett
Kathryn
K
Pfannkoch
Cynthia
C
Sumin
Nadezhda
N
Sutton
Granger G
GG
Viswanathan
Lakshmi Devi
LD
Walenz
Brian
B
Goodstein
David M
DM
Hellsten
Uffe
U
Kawashima
Takeshi
T
Prochnik
Simon E
SE
Putnam
Nicholas H
NH
Shu
Shengquiang
S
Blumberg
Bruce
B
Dana
Catherine E
CE
Gee
Lydia
L
Kibler
Dennis F
DF
Law
Lee
L
Lindgens
Dirk
D
Martinez
Daniel E
DE
Peng
Jisong
J
Wigge
Philip A
PA
Bertulat
Bianca
B
Guder
Corina
C
Nakamura
Yukio
Y
Ozbek
Suat
S
Watanabe
Hiroshi
H
Khalturin
Konstantin
K
Hemmrich
Georg
G
Franke
André
A
Augustin
René
R
Fraune
Sebastian
S
Hayakawa
Eisuke
E
Hayakawa
Shiho
S
Hirose
Mamiko
M
Hwang
Jung Shan
JS
Ikeo
Kazuho
K
Nishimiya-Fujisawa
Chiemi
C
Ogura
Atshushi
A
Takahashi
Toshio
T
Steinmetz
Patrick R H
PR
Zhang
Xiaoming
X
Aufschnaiter
Roland
R
Eder
Marie-Kristin
MK
Gorny
Anne-Kathrin
AK
Salvenmoser
Willi
W
Heimberg
Alysha M
AM
Wheeler
Benjamin M
BM
Peterson
Kevin J
KJ
Böttger
Angelika
A
Tischler
Patrick
P
Wolf
Alexander
A
Gojobori
Takashi
T
Remington
Karin A
KA
Strausberg
Robert L
RL
Venter
J Craig
JC
Technau
Ulrich
U
Hobmayer
Bert
B
Bosch
Thomas C G
TC
Holstein
Thomas W
TW
Fujisawa
Toshitaka
T
Bode
Hans R
HR
David
Charles N
CN
Rokhsar
Daniel S
DS
Steele
Robert E
RE
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000235:genetics; D042621:Comamonadaceae / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006829:Hydra / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000648:ultrastructure
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements