Discovery of an Active RAG Transposon Illuminates the Origins of V(D)J Recombination.

Co-option of RAG1 and RAG2 for antigen receptor gene assembly by V(D)J recombination was a crucial event in the evolution of jawed vertebrate adaptive immunity. RAG1/2 are proposed to have arisen from a transposable element, but definitive evidence for this is lacking. Here, we report the discovery of ProtoRAG, a DNA transposon family from lancelets, the most basal extant chordates. A typical ProtoRAG is flanked by 5-bp target site duplications and a pair of terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) resembling V(D)J recombination signal sequences. Between the TIRs reside tail-to-tail-oriented, intron-containing RAG1-like and RAG2-like genes. We demonstrate that ProtoRAG was recently active in the lancelet germline and that the lancelet RAG1/2-like proteins can mediate TIR-dependent transposon excision, host DNA recombination, transposition, and low-efficiency TIR rejoining using reaction mechanisms similar to those used by vertebrate RAGs. We propose that ProtoRAG represents a molecular "living fossil" of the long-sought RAG transposon.

Functions of the FGF signalling pathway in cephalochordates provide insight into the evolution of the prechordal plate.

The fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling pathway plays various roles during vertebrate embryogenesis, from mesoderm formation to brain patterning. This diversity of functions relies on the fact that vertebrates possess the largest FGF gene complement among metazoans. In the cephalochordate amphioxus, which belongs to the chordate clade together with vertebrates and tunicates, we have previously shown that the main role of FGF during early development is the control of rostral somite formation. Inhibition of this signalling pathway induces the loss of these structures, resulting in an embryo without anterior segmented mesoderm, as in the vertebrate head. Here, by combining several approaches, we show that the anterior presumptive paraxial mesoderm cells acquire an anterior axial fate when FGF signal is inhibited and that they are later incorporated in the anterior notochord. Our analysis of notochord formation in wild type and in embryos in which FGF signalling is inhibited also reveals that amphioxus anterior notochord presents transient prechordal plate features. Altogether, our results give insight into how changes in FGF functions during chordate evolution might have participated to the emergence of the complex vertebrate head.

Gain of gene regulatory network interconnectivity at the origin of vertebrates.

SignificanceIn this manuscript, we address an essential question in developmental and evolutionary biology: How have changes in gene regulatory networks contributed to the invertebrate-to-vertebrate transition? To address this issue, we perturbed four signaling pathways critical for body plan formation in the cephalochordate amphioxus and in zebrafish and compared the effects of such perturbations on gene expression and gene regulation in both species. Our data reveal that many developmental genes have gained response to these signaling pathways in the vertebrate lineage. Moreover, we show that the interconnectivity between these pathways is much higher in zebrafish than in amphioxus. We conclude that this increased signaling pathway complexity likely contributed to vertebrate morphological novelties during evolution.

Gene Regulatory Networks of Epidermal and Neural Fate Choice in a Chordate.

Neurons are a highly specialized cell type only found in metazoans. They can be scattered throughout the body or grouped together, forming ganglia or nerve cords. During embryogenesis, centralized nervous systems develop from the ectoderm, which also forms the epidermis. How pluripotent ectodermal cells are directed toward neural or epidermal fates, and to which extent this process is shared among different animal lineages, are still open questions. Here, by using micromere explants, we were able to define in silico the putative gene regulatory networks (GRNs) underlying the first steps of the epidermis and the central nervous system formation in the cephalochordate amphioxus. We propose that although the signal triggering neural induction in amphioxus (i.e., Nodal) is different from vertebrates, the main transcription factors implicated in this process are conserved. Moreover, our data reveal that transcription factors of the neural program seem to not only activate neural genes but also to potentially have direct inputs into the epidermal GRN, suggesting that the Nodal signal might also contribute to neural fate commitment by repressing the epidermal program. Our functional data on whole embryos support this result and highlight the complex interactions among the transcription factors activated by the signaling pathways that drive ectodermal cell fate choice in chordates.

Functional lability of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases in animals.

RNA interference (RNAi) requires RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs) in many eukaryotes, and RNAi amplification constitutes the only known function for eukaryotic RdRPs. Yet in animals, classical model organisms can elicit RNAi without possessing RdRPs, and only nematode RNAi was shown to require RdRPs. Here we show that RdRP genes are much more common in animals than previously thought, even in insects, where they had been assumed not to exist. RdRP genes were present in the ancestors of numerous clades, and they were subsequently lost at a high frequency. In order to probe the function of RdRPs in a deuterostome (the cephalochordate Branchiostoma lanceolatum), we performed high-throughput analyses of small RNAs from various Branchiostoma developmental stages. Our results show that Branchiostoma RdRPs do not appear to participate in RNAi: we did not detect any candidate small RNA population exhibiting classical siRNA length or sequence features. Our results show that RdRPs have been independently lost in dozens of animal clades, and even in a clade where they have been conserved (cephalochordates) their function in RNAi amplification is not preserved. Such a dramatic functional variability reveals an unexpected plasticity in RNA silencing pathways.

My Favorite Animal, Amphioxus: Unparalleled for Studying Early Vertebrate Evolution.

Amphioxus represents the most basally divergent group in chordates and probably the best extant proxy to the ancestor of all chordates including vertebrates. The amphioxus, or lancelets, are benthic filter feeding marine animals and their interest as a model in research is due to their phylogenetic position and their anatomical and genetic stasis throughout their evolutionary history. From the first works in the 19th century to the present day, enormous progress is made mainly favored by technical development at different levels, from spawning induction and husbandry techniques, through techniques for studies of gene function or of the role of different signalling pathways through embryonic development, to functional genomics techniques. Together, these advances foretell a plethora of interesting developments in the world of research with the amphioxus model. Here, the discovery and development of amphioxus as a superb model organism in evolutionary and evolutionary-developmental biology are reviewed.

FGF signaling emerged concomitantly with the origin of Eumetazoans.

Complex metazoan bodies require cell-to-cell communication for development, a process often mediated by signaling molecules binding to specific receptors. Relatively few signaling pathways have been recruited during evolution to build multicellular animals from unicellular zygotes. Of these few signaling pathways, one of particular importance is the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) pathway. In metazoans, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) bind to receptors in the RTK family, but the origin of the FGF gene family has so far remained a mystery. Here we show that extant bona fide FGFs most likely originated from proteins bearing an FGF-like domain that arose in a choanoflagellate/metazoan ancestor. We found orthologous genes closely related to FGF in choanoflagellates as well as in many metazoans such as sponges, acoels, protostomes, or nonvertebrate deuterostomes. We also show that these genes have a common evolutionary history with Retinitis Pigmentosa 1 (RP1). Even if some metazoan signaling pathways emerged long before multicellularity, we show that FGFs, like their receptors, originated in a eumetazoan ancestor.

Vertebrate-like regeneration in the invertebrate chordate amphioxus.

An important question in biology is why some animals are able to regenerate, whereas others are not. The basal chordate amphioxus is uniquely positioned to address the evolution of regeneration. We report here the high regeneration potential of the European amphioxus Branchiostoma lanceolatum. Adults regenerate both anterior and posterior structures, including neural tube, notochord, fin, and muscle. Development of a classifier based on tail regeneration profiles predicts the assignment of young and old adults to their own class with >94% accuracy. The process involves loss of differentiated characteristics, formation of an msx-expressing blastema, and neurogenesis. Moreover, regeneration is linked to the activation of satellite-like Pax3/7 progenitor cells, the extent of which declines with size and age. Our results provide a framework for understanding the evolution and diversity of regeneration mechanisms in vertebrates.

Evolutionary crossroads in developmental biology: amphioxus.

The phylogenetic position of amphioxus, together with its relatively simple and evolutionarily conserved morphology and genome structure, has led to its use as a model for studies of vertebrate evolution. In particular, the recent development of technical approaches, as well as access to the complete amphioxus genome sequence, has provided the community with tools with which to study the invertebrate-chordate to vertebrate transition. Here, we present this animal model, discussing its life cycle, the model species studied and the experimental techniques that it is amenable to. We also summarize the major findings made using amphioxus that have informed us about the evolution of vertebrate traits.

Amphioxus FGF signaling predicts the acquisition of vertebrate morphological traits.

FGF signaling is one of the few cell-cell signaling pathways conserved among all metazoans. The diversity of FGF gene content among different phyla suggests that evolution of FGF signaling may have participated in generating the current variety of animal forms. Vertebrates possess the greatest number of FGF genes, the functional evolution of which may have been implicated in the acquisition of vertebrate-specific morphological traits. In this study, we have investigated the roles of the FGF signal during embryogenesis of the cephalochordate amphioxus, the best proxy for the chordate ancestor. We first isolate the full FGF gene complement and determine the evolutionary relationships between amphioxus and vertebrate FGFs via phylogenetic and synteny conservation analysis. Using pharmacological treatments, we inhibit the FGF signaling pathway in amphioxus embryos in different time windows. Our results show that the requirement for FGF signaling during gastrulation is a conserved character among chordates, whereas this signal is not necessary for neural induction in amphioxus, in contrast to what is known in vertebrates. We also show that FGF signal, acting through the MAPK pathway, is necessary for the formation of the most anterior somites in amphioxus, whereas more posterior somite formation is not FGF-dependent. This result leads us to propose that modification of the FGF signal function in the anterior paraxial mesoderm in an amphioxus-like vertebrate ancestor might have contributed to the loss of segmentation in the preotic paraxial mesoderm of the vertebrate head.

An amphioxus neurula stage cell atlas supports a complex scenario for the emergence of vertebrate head mesoderm.

The emergence of new structures can often be linked to the evolution of novel cell types that follows the rewiring of developmental gene regulatory subnetworks. Vertebrates are characterized by a complex body plan compared to the other chordate clades and the question remains of whether and how the emergence of vertebrate morphological innovations can be related to the appearance of new embryonic cell populations. We previously proposed, by studying mesoderm development in the cephalochordate amphioxus, a scenario for the evolution of the vertebrate head mesoderm. To further test this scenario at the cell population level, we used scRNA-seq to construct a cell atlas of the amphioxus neurula, stage at which the main mesodermal compartments are specified. Our data allowed us to validate the presence of a prechordal-plate like territory in amphioxus. Additionally, the transcriptomic profile of somite cell populations supports the homology between specific territories of amphioxus somites and vertebrate cranial/pharyngeal and lateral plate mesoderm. Finally, our work provides evidence that the appearance of the specific mesodermal structures of the vertebrate head was associated to both segregation of pre-existing cell populations, and co-option of new genes for the control of myogenesis.

Evolution of tissue-specific expression of ancestral genes across vertebrates and insects.

Regulation of gene expression is arguably the main mechanism underlying the phenotypic diversity of tissues within and between species. Here we assembled an extensive transcriptomic dataset covering 8 tissues across 20 bilaterian species and performed analyses using a symmetric phylogeny that allowed the combined and parallel investigation of gene expression evolution between vertebrates and insects. We specifically focused on widely conserved ancestral genes, identifying strong cores of pan-bilaterian tissue-specific genes and even larger groups that diverged to define vertebrate and insect tissues. Systematic inferences of tissue-specificity gains and losses show that nearly half of all ancestral genes have been recruited into tissue-specific transcriptomes. This occurred during both ancient and, especially, recent bilaterian evolution, with several gains being associated with the emergence of unique phenotypes (for example, novel cell types). Such pervasive evolution of tissue specificity was linked to gene duplication coupled with expression specialization of one of the copies, revealing an unappreciated prolonged effect of whole-genome duplications on recent vertebrate evolution.

Evolution of the ribbon-like organization of the Golgi apparatus in animal cells.

The "ribbon," a structural arrangement in which Golgi stacks connect to each other, is considered to be restricted to vertebrate cells. Although ribbon disruption is linked to various human pathologies, its functional role in cellular processes remains unclear. In this study, we investigate the evolutionary origin of the Golgi ribbon. We observe a ribbon-like architecture in the cells of several metazoan taxa suggesting its early emergence in animal evolution predating the appearance of vertebrates. Supported by AlphaFold2 modeling, we propose that the evolution of Golgi reassembly and stacking protein (GRASP) binding by golgin tethers may have driven the joining of Golgi stacks resulting in the ribbon-like configuration. Additionally, we find that Golgi ribbon assembly is a shared developmental feature of deuterostomes, implying a role in embryogenesis. Overall, our study points to the functional significance of the Golgi ribbon beyond vertebrates and underscores the need for further investigations to unravel its elusive biological roles.

The Catalan initiative for the Earth BioGenome Project: contributing local data to global biodiversity genomics.

The Catalan Initiative for the Earth BioGenome Project (CBP) is an EBP-affiliated project network aimed at sequencing the genome of the >40 000 eukaryotic species estimated to live in the Catalan-speaking territories (Catalan Linguistic Area, CLA). These territories represent a biodiversity hotspot. While covering less than 1% of Europe, they are home to about one fourth of all known European eukaryotic species. These include a high proportion of endemisms, many of which are threatened. This trend is likely to get worse as the effects of global change are expected to be particularly severe across the Mediterranean Basin, particularly in freshwater ecosystems and mountain areas. Following the EBP model, the CBP is a networked organization that has been able to engage many scientific and non-scientific partners. In the pilot phase, the genomes of 52 species are being sequenced. As a case study in biodiversity conservation, we highlight the genome of the Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, sequenced under the CBP umbrella.

A dynamic history of gene duplications and losses characterizes the evolution of the SPARC family in eumetazoans.

The vertebrates share the ability to produce a skeleton made of mineralized extracellular matrix. However, our understanding of the molecular changes that accompanied their emergence remains scarce. Here, we describe the evolutionary history of the SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) family, because its vertebrate orthologues are expressed in cartilage, bones and teeth where they have been proposed to bind calcium and act as extracellular collagen chaperones, and because further duplications of specific SPARC members produced the small calcium-binding phosphoproteins (SCPP) family that is crucial for skeletal mineralization to occur. Both phylogeny and synteny conservation analyses reveal that, in the eumetazoan ancestor, a unique ancestral gene duplicated to give rise to SPARC and SPARCB described here for the first time. Independent losses have eliminated one of the two paralogues in cnidarians, protostomes and tetrapods. Hence, only non-tetrapod deuterostomes have conserved both genes. Remarkably, SPARC and SPARCB paralogues are still linked in the amphioxus genome. To shed light on the evolution of the SPARC family members in chordates, we performed a comprehensive analysis of their embryonic expression patterns in amphioxus, tunicates, teleosts, amphibians and mammals. Our results show that in the chordate lineage SPARC and SPARCB family members were recurrently recruited in a variety of unrelated tissues expressing collagen genes. We propose that one of the earliest steps of skeletal evolution involved the co-expression of SPARC paralogues with collagenous proteins.

Evolution of the vertebrate bone matrix: an expression analysis of the network forming collagen paralogues in amphibian osteoblasts.

The emergence of vertebrates is closely associated to the evolution of mineralized bone tissue. However, the molecular basis underlying the origin and subsequent diversification of the skeletal mineralized matrix is still poorly understood. One efficient way to tackle this issue is to compare the expression, between vertebrate species, of osteoblastic genes coding for bone matrix proteins. In this work, we have focused on the evolution of the network forming collagen family which contains the Col8a1, Col8a2, and Col10a1 genes. Both phylogeny and synteny reveal that these three paralogues are vertebrate-specific and derive from two independent duplications in the vertebrate lineage. To shed light on the evolution of this family, we have analyzed the osteoblastic expression of the network forming collagens in endochondral and intramembraneous skeletal elements of the amphibian Xenopus tropicalis. Remarkably, we find that amphibian osteoblasts express Col10a1, a gene strongly expressed in osteoblasts in actinopterygians but not in amniotes. In addition, while Col8a1 is known to be robustly expressed in mammalian osteoblasts, the expression levels of its amphibian orthologue are dramatically reduced. Our work reveals that while a skeletal expression of network forming collagen members is widespread throughout vertebrates, osteoblasts from divergent vertebrate lineages express different combinations of network forming collagen paralogues.

Amphioxus as a model to study the evolution of development in chordates.

Cephalochordates and tunicates represent the only two groups of invertebrate chordates, and extant cephalochordates - commonly known as amphioxus or lancelets - are considered the best proxy for the chordate ancestor, from which they split around 520 million years ago. Amphioxus has been an important organism in the fields of zoology and embryology since the 18th century, and the morphological and genomic simplicity of cephalochordates (compared to vertebrates) makes amphioxus an attractive model for studying chordate biology at the cellular and molecular levels. Here we describe the life cycle of amphioxus, and discuss the natural histories and habitats of the different species of amphioxus. We also describe their use as laboratory animal models, and discuss the techniques that have been developed to study different aspects of amphioxus.

Impacts of microplastics and the associated plastisphere on physiological, biochemical, genetic expression and gut microbiota of the filter-feeder amphioxus.

Oceanic plastic pollution is of major concern to marine organisms, especially filter feeders. However, limited is known about the toxic effects of the weathered microplastics instead of the pristine ones. This study evaluates the effects of weathered polystyrene microplastic on a filter-feeder amphioxus under starvation conditions via its exposure to the microplastics previously deployed in the natural seawater allowing for the development of a mature biofilm (so-called plastisphere). The study focused on the integration of physiological, histological, biochemical, molecular, and microbiota impacts on amphioxus. Overall, specific alterations in gene expression of marker genes were observed to be associated with oxidative stresses and immune systems. Negligible impacts were observed on antioxidant biochemical activities and gut microbiota of amphioxus, while we highlighted the potential transfer of 12 bacterial taxa from the plastisphere to the amphioxus gut microbiota. Moreover, the classical perturbation of body shape detected in control animals under starvation conditions (a slim and curved body) but not for amphioxus exposed to microplastic, indicates that the microorganisms colonizing plastics could serve as a nutrient source for this filter-feeder, commitment with the elevated proportions of goblet cell-like structures after the microplastic exposure. The multidisciplinary approach developed in this study underlined the trait of microplastics that acted as vectors for transporting microorganisms from the plastisphere to amphioxus.

The Evolution of Invertebrate Animals.

The current diversity of metazoans has been achieved through a long process of evolution since the appearance of their unicellular ancestor about 1000 Mya [...].

Exploring tissue morphodynamics using the photoconvertible Kaede protein in amphioxus embryos.

Photoconvertible proteins are powerful tools widely used in cellular biology to study cell dynamics and organelles. Over the past decade, photoconvertible proteins have also been used for developmental biology applications to analyze cell lineage and cell fate during embryonic development. One of these photoconvertible proteins called Kaede, from the stony coral Trachyphyllia geoffroyi, undergoes irreversible photoconversion from green to red fluorescence when illuminated with UV light. Undertaking a cell tracing approach using photoconvertible proteins can be challenging when using unconventional animal models. In this protocol, we describe the use of Kaede to track specific cells during embryogenesis of the cephalochordate Branchiostoma lanceolatum. This protocol can be adapted to other unconventional models, especially marine animals.