Evo-devo with non-model systems: Spiralia Get into the Game. Cristina Grande Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa CSIC.

Título: Evo-devo with non-model systems: Spiralia Get into the Game

Ponente: Cristina Grande, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CSIC.

Resumen:

Evolutionary developmental biology is beginning to provide answers to classic evolutionary questions. Genes involved in evolutionary processes are being identified as well as some genetic regulatory mechanisms that operate during development. Hence, understanding how developmental processes have evolved, how they can be modified by genetic change,  and how such modifications have produced the past and present diversity of morphologies and body plans constitutes one of the most important issues addressed by modern evolutionary biology studies. While most of these studies have been focused mainly in deuterostomes and ecdysozoans,  a number of different spiralians are being recently considered as model systems for evo devo studies. Here, I will describe some genes involved in the definition of the body asymmetries with respect to the bilateral axis, i.e.,  the axis that divides left and right in Spiralians and discuss these findings in an evolutionary context. I will highlight how these studies on spiralians are improving our understanding of the main developmental pathways involved in body plan evolution of metazoans and provide new data on the origin and evolution of the cellular signaling pathways in Metazoa.