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.

An investigation of transposable element evolution in a group of long-term asexual animals shows that many of the predicted effects of asexuality are not observed.

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.

The coding sequences of a very highly conserved family of neurogenic transcription factors from different species have evolved to generate proteins that have different life times causing them to display quantitatively different neural induction potentials.

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.

A new component, CatSper zeta, is required for continuous alignment of the calcium channel along the sperm's tail and is crucial for normal sperm swimming behavior and fertility.

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.

Collagen IV is a primordial extracellular matrix component associated with the transition to animal multicellularity, and enabled the formation and evolution of epithelial tissues.

How nuclear pore complexes establish their permeability barrier has been a long-standing question; now, this process can be reconstituted by a surprisingly simple and rapid self-assembly of Nup98 FG domains into selective FG phases.

Electron microscopy uncovers the structure of the origin recognition complex (ORC) in metazoans, and reveals how mutations in the ORC6 subunit lead to Meier-Gorlin syndrome in humans.