title: How do environmental factors influence life cycles and development? An experimental framework for early-diverging metazoans.
abstract: Ecological developmental biology (eco-devo) explores the mechanistic relationships between the processes of individual development and environmental factors. Recent studies imply that some of these relationships have deep evolutionary origins, and may even pre-date the divergences of the simplest extant animals, including cnidarians and sponges. Development of these early diverging metazoans is often sensitive to environmental factors, and these interactions occur in the context of conserved signaling pathways and mechanisms of tissue homeostasis whose detailed molecular logic remain elusive. Efficient methods for transgenesis in cnidarians together with the ease of experimental manipulation in cnidarians and sponges make them ideal models for understanding causal relationships between environmental factors and developmental mechanisms. Here, we identify major questions at the interface between animal evolution and development and outline a road map for research aimed at identifying the mechanisms that link environmental factors to developmental mechanisms in early diverging metazoans. Also watch the Video Abstract.
authors.affiliation: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas C G
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adamska
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Augustin
authors.forename: Tomislav
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Domazet-Loso
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Foret
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fraune
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Funayama
authors.forename: Juris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grasis
authors.forename: Mayuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hatta
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hobmayer
authors.forename: Kotoe
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klimovich
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manuel
authors.forename: Chuya
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shinzato
authors.forename: Uli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Technau
authors.forename: Seungshic
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yum
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003063:Cnidaria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D017753:Ecosystem; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000235:genetics*; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011161:Porifera / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D015398:Signal Transduction
keywords: Cnidaria; corals; environmental genomics; holobiont; hydra; sponges; symbiosis