The gene regulatory network of Nodal signaling, underpinning body axes patterning, was evolved specifically in cephalochordate lineage.

Interest in the ecology, biology and evolution of amphioxus is growing, and the availability of several species is helping to improve our understanding of chordate evolution.

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is essential for the specification of dorsal cell fate in amphioxus, suggesting a common evolutionary origin for the formation of the dorsal organizer in chordates.

Evolutionary reconstruction of the ecdysis pathway shows that its major elements are present in the majority of metazoans, providing evidence that they originated much earlier than currently assumed.

Discovery of a novel neuropeptide signalling system in a deuterostome invertebrate reveals the evolutionary origin of prolactin-releasing peptide and its relationship with neuropeptides in protostome invertebrates.

A combination of phylogenetic and biochemical analyses suggest that some unexpected variations in the synthesis of isoprenoids may be widespread across all three domains of life.

The animal phylogeny of glutamate receptors indicates that vertebrate types do not account for all receptor classes originated during evolution, neither are they the pinnacle of a linear evolutive process.

The new whale shark genome assembly represents the best gapless chondrichthyan genome assembly yet, and comparative genomic analyses provide insights into the evolution of vertebrate genome origins, immunity, and gigantism.

The genomes of animal progenitors evolved as mosaics of old, new, rearranged, and repurposed protein domains, genes and pathways and paved the way for the origin and evolution of animals.

LAP1 adopts an AAA+ like fold that, while unable to bind nucleotide, can enhance ATPase activity in the neighboring TorsinA protomer in an unusual heterohexameric ring, via an arginine finger.