A conserved gene regulatory network subcircuit drives different developmental fates in the vegetal pole of highly divergent echinoderm embryos

AbstractComparisons of orthologous developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from different organisms explain how transcriptional regulation can, or cannot, change over time to cause morphological evolution and stasis. Here, we examine a subset of the GRN connections in the central vegetal pole mesoderm of the late sea star blastula and compare them to the GRN for the same embryonic territory of sea urchins. In modern sea urchins, this territory gives rise to skeletogenic mesoderm; in sea stars, it develops into other mesodermal derivatives. Orthologs of many transcription factors that function in the sea urchin skeletogenic mesoderm are co-expressed in the sea star vegetal pole, although this territory does not form a larval skeleton. Systematic perturbation of erg, hex, tbr, and tgif gene function was used to construct a snapshot of the sea star mesoderm GRN. A comparison of this network to the sea urchin skeletogenic mesoderm GRN revealed a conserved, recursively wired subcircuit operating in both organisms. We propose that, while these territories have evolved different functions in sea urchins and sea stars, this subcircuit is part of an ancestral GRN governing echinoderm vegetal pole mesoderm development. The positive regulatory feedback between these transcription factors may explain the conservation of this subcircuit

Systematic comparison of sea urchin and sea star developmental gene regulatory networks explains how novelty is incorporated in early development.

The extensive array of morphological diversity among animal taxa represents the product of millions of years of evolution. Morphology is the output of development, therefore phenotypic evolution arises from changes to the topology of the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that control the highly coordinated process of embryogenesis. A particular challenge in understanding the origins of animal diversity lies in determining how GRNs incorporate novelty while preserving the overall stability of the network, and hence, embryonic viability. Here we assemble a comprehensive GRN for endomesoderm specification in the sea star from zygote through gastrulation that corresponds to the GRN for sea urchin development of equivalent territories and stages. Comparison of the GRNs identifies how novelty is incorporated in early development. We show how the GRN is resilient to the introduction of a transcription factor, pmar1, the inclusion of which leads to a switch between two stable modes of Delta-Notch signaling. Signaling pathways can function in multiple modes and we propose that GRN changes that lead to switches between modes may be a common evolutionary mechanism for changes in embryogenesis. Our data additionally proposes a model in which evolutionarily conserved network motifs, or kernels, may function throughout development to stabilize these signaling transitions

Small-molecule G-quadruplex stabilizers reveal a novel pathway of autophagy regulation in neurons

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They Are What You Eat: Can Nutritional Factors during Gestation and Early Infancy Modulate the Neonatal Immune Response?

The ontogeny of the human immune system is sensitive to nutrition even in the very early embryo, with both deficiency and excess of macro- and micronutrients being potentially detrimental. Neonates are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease due to the immaturity of the immune system and modulation of nutritional immunity may play a role in this sensitivity. This review examines whether nutrition around the time of conception, throughout pregnancy, and in early neonatal life may impact on the developing infant immune system

A conserved gene regulatory network subcircuit drives different developmental fates in the vegetal pole of highly divergent echinoderm embryos.

Comparisons of orthologous developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from different organisms explain how transcriptional regulation can, or cannot, change over time to cause morphological evolution and stasis. Here, we examine a subset of the GRN connections in the central vegetal pole mesoderm of the late sea star blastula and compare them to the GRN for the same embryonic territory of sea urchins. In modern sea urchins, this territory gives rise to skeletogenic mesoderm; in sea stars, it develops into other mesodermal derivatives. Orthologs of many transcription factors that function in the sea urchin skeletogenic mesoderm are co-expressed in the sea star vegetal pole, although this territory does not form a larval skeleton. Systematic perturbation of erg, hex, tbr, and tgif gene function was used to construct a snapshot of the sea star mesoderm GRN. A comparison of this network to the sea urchin skeletogenic mesoderm GRN revealed a conserved, recursively wired subcircuit operating in both organisms. We propose that, while these territories have evolved different functions in sea urchins and sea stars, this subcircuit is part of an ancestral GRN governing echinoderm vegetal pole mesoderm development. The positive regulatory feedback between these transcription factors may explain the conservation of this subcircuit.</p

Evolution of gene regulatory network architectures: examples of subcircuit conservation and plasticity between classes of echinoderms.

Developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs) explain how regulatory states are established in particular cells during development and how these states then determine the final form of the embryo. Evolutionary changes to the sequence of the genome will direct reorganization of GRN architectures, which in turn will lead to the alteration of developmental programs. A comparison of GRN architectures must consequently reveal the molecular basis for the evolution of developmental programs among different organisms. This review highlights some of the important findings that have emerged from the most extensive direct comparison of GRN architectures to date. Comparison of the orthologous GRNs for endomesodermal specification in the sea urchin and sea star, provides examples of several discrete, functional GRN subcircuits and shows that they are subject to diverse selective pressures. This demonstrates that different regulatory linkages may be more or less amenable to evolutionary change. One of the more surprising findings from this comparison is that GRN-level functions may be maintained while the factors performing the functions have changed, suggesting that GRNs have a high capacity for compensatory changes involving transcription factor binding to cis regulatory modules.</p

Development of an embryonic skeletogenic mesenchyme lineage in a sea cucumber reveals the trajectory of change for the evolution of novel structures in echinoderms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mechanisms by which the conserved genetic “toolkit” for development generates phenotypic disparity across metazoans is poorly understood. Echinoderm larvae provide a great resource for understanding how developmental novelty arises. The sea urchin pluteus larva is dramatically different from basal echinoderm larval types, which include the auricularia-type larva of its sister taxon, the sea cucumbers, and the sea star bipinnaria larva. In particular, the pluteus has a mesodermally-derived larval skeleton that is not present in sea star larvae or any outgroup taxa. To understand the evolutionary origin of this structure, we examined the molecular development of mesoderm in the sea cucumber, <it>Parastichopus parvimensis</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By comparing gene expression in sea urchins, sea cucumbers and sea stars, we partially reconstructed the mesodermal regulatory state of the echinoderm ancestor. Surprisingly, we also identified expression of the transcription factor <it>alx1</it> in a cryptic skeletogenic mesenchyme lineage in <it>P. parvimensis</it>. Orthologs of <it>alx1</it> are expressed exclusively within the sea urchin skeletogenic mesenchyme, but are not expressed in the mesenchyme of the sea star, which suggests that <it>alx1</it>⁺ mesenchyme is a synapomorphy of at least sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Perturbation of Alx1 demonstrates that this protein is necessary for the formation of the sea cucumber spicule. Overexpression of the sea star <it>alx1</it> ortholog in sea urchins is sufficient to induce additional skeleton, indicating that the Alx1 protein has not evolved a new function during the evolution of the larval skeleton.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The proposed echinoderm ancestral mesoderm state is highly conserved between the morphologically similar, but evolutionarily distant, auricularia and bipinnaria larvae. However, the auricularia, but not bipinnaria, also develops a simple skelotogenic cell lineage. Our data indicate that the first step in acquiring these novel cell fates was to re-specify the ancestral mesoderm into molecularly distinct territories. These new territories likely consisted of only a few cells with few regulatory differences from the ancestral state, thereby leaving the remaining mesoderm to retain its original function. The new territories were then free to take on a new fate. Partitioning of existing gene networks was a necessary pre-requisite to establish novelty in this system.</p

Expression of wnt and frizzled genes during early sea star development.

<p>The Wnt signaling pathway is highly conserved across metazoa and has pleiotropic functions in the development of many animals. Binding of a secreted Wnt ligand to its Frizzled (Fz) receptor activates Dishevelled, which then drives one of three major signaling cascades, canonical (β-catenin), calcium, or planar cell polarity signaling. These pathways have distinct developmental effects and function in different processes in different organisms. Here we report the expression of six wnt and three fz genes during embryogenesis of the sea star, Patiria miniata, as a first step in uncovering the roles of Wnt signaling in the development of this organism. wnt3, wnt4, wnt8, and wnt16 are expressed in nested domains in the endoderm and lateral ectoderm from blastula through late gastrula stages; wnt2 and wnt5 are expressed in the mesoderm and anterior endoderm. Expression of different fz paralogs is detected in the mesoderm; posterior endoderm and ectoderm; and anterior ectoderm. Taken together, this suggests that Wnt signaling can occur throughout most of the embryo and may therefore play multiple roles during sea star development.</p

Paleogenomics of echinoids reveals an ancient origin for the double-negative specification of micromeres in sea urchins

Establishing a timeline for the evolution of novelties is a common, unifying goal at the intersection of evolutionary and developmental biology. Analyses of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) provide the ability to understand the underlying genetic and developmental mechanisms responsible for the origin of morphological structures both in the development of an individual and across entire evolutionary lineages. Accurately dating GRN novelties, thereby establishing a timeline for GRN evolution, is necessary to answer questions about the rate at which GRNs and their subcircuits evolve, and to tie their evolution to paleoenvironmental and paleoecological changes. Paleogenomics unites the fossil record and all aspects of deep time, with modern genomics and developmental biology to understand the evolution of genomes in evolutionary time. Recent work on the regulatory genomic basis of development in cidaroid echinoids, sand dollars, heart urchins, and other nonmodel echinoderms provides an ideal dataset with which to explore GRN evolution in a comparative framework. Using divergence time estimation and ancestral state reconstructions, we have determined the age of the double-negative gate (DNG), the subcircuit which specifies micromeres and skeletogenic cells in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. We have determined that the DNG has likely been used for euechinoid echinoid micromere specification since at least the Late Triassic. The innovation of the DNG thus predates the burst of post-Paleozoic echinoid morphological diversification that began in the Early Jurassic. Paleogenomics has wide applicability for the integration of deep time and molecular developmental data, and has wide utility in rigorously establishing timelines for GRN evolution