title: Evolutionary crossroads in developmental biology: the tunicates.
abstract: The tunicates, or urochordates, constitute a large group of marine animals whose recent common ancestry with vertebrates is reflected in the tadpole-like larvae of most tunicates. Their diversity and key phylogenetic position are enhanced, from a research viewpoint, by anatomically simple and transparent embryos, compact rapidly evolving genomes, and the availability of powerful experimental and computational tools with which to study these organisms. Tunicates are thus a powerful system for exploring chordate evolution and how extreme variation in genome sequence and gene regulatory network architecture is compatible with the preservation of an ancestral chordate body plan.
authors.affiliation: Institut du Biologie de Développement de Marseille Luminy, IBDML, UMR 6216, CNRS, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France. parick.lemaire@crbm.cnrs.fr
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lemaire
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D010802:Phylogeny; D012100:Reproduction, Asexual; D014561:Urochordata / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development