A genome analysis of Xenoturbella bocki provides insights into the biology of this enigmatic marine worm and enhances our understanding of early bilaterian evolution.

Expression patterns and biophysical properties of acid-sensing ion channels in numerous bilaterian animals offer insight into the deployment of ion channels by the evolving nervous system in complex animals.

An in silico analysis of gap junction proteins supports the hypothesis that connexins replaced the primordial innexins in chordate gap junctions due to an evolutionary bottleneck.

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 recently characterized opsin group of xenopsins is likely a major player in animal eye evolution and may have been present in an ancient, highly plastic eye photoreceptor cell type.

Advanced orthology clustering of bilaterian and non-bilaterian sequences identifies 157 bilaterian-specific genes which are linked to key morphological features of this animal group.

The closest living relatives of animals, the choanoflagellates, switch from a flagellate to an amoeboid phenotype under confinement.

De novo transcriptome assembly and comprehensive characterization of gene expression in proliferating cells of regeneration-capable flatworm Macrostomum lignano advance this organism as a powerful model for stem cell research.

A phylogeny of all major groups of flatworms based on hundreds of genes sheds new light the early evolution of this important metazoan phylum, with particular significance for the original of vertebrate parasitism.