Protein coding genes strongly support a sister group relationship between Placozoa and Cnidaria to the exclusion of Bilateria, contradicting previous phylogenies, which have likely been misled by pervasive compositional heterogeneity.

Developmental genetics of sea anemone mechanosensory neurons provides insights into the deep evolutionary history of mechanoreceptor development in animals.

Presence of a functional homolog of HYL1 in Nematostella vectensis, a basal animal model, indicates divergent evolution of miRNA biogenesis pathway in plants and animals from an ancestral miRNA system.

Exceptionally preserved small shelly fossils (SSFs) from the early Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation (535 million years ago) reveal the muscular system of ancient cnidarians.

The colonization of corals and their relatives by intracellular microalgae is facilitated by immunity proteins in the animal that contain thrombospondin-type-1 repeats, elucidating the inter-partner recognition processes required for the establishment of this ecologically important symbiosis.

The identification of 31 neuropeptide GPCRs in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis provides a rich resource to study peptidergic signaling in cnidarians and suggests that cnidarian and bilaterian peptidergic systems diversified independent from each other from a few ancestral systems.

Stem cell migration underlies head regeneration in the cnidarian (jellies and their kin) Hydractinia, but the regeneration of other body parts is based on the gradual transformation of one tissue type into another.

Disruption of the Clock gene in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis revealed its essential role in circadian rhythm maintenance and uncovered a compensatory light-response pathway, advancing our comprehension of circadian regulation in non-bilaterian animals.

The analysis of 20 coral genomic datasets provides unprecedented insights into what makes reef-building corals unique, including the evolution of novel gene families involved in biomineralization, signaling and stress responses that have led to their evolutionary success throughout the Phanerozoic Eon.

The expression of 'bilaterian-mesodermal’ genes changes the epithelial properties of the endomesoderm during the embryogenesis of the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis.