Development of genetic tools for unicellular relatives of animals

NAJLE, SEBASTIÁN R.

San Diego

Encuentro; ASCB-EMBO 2018; 2018

American Society for Cell Biology - European Molecular Biology Organization

The origin of multicellular animals from their unicellular ancestor was a pivotal step in the evolution of life. Recent studies on unicellular relatives of animals have revealed that their genome contains genes crucial for metazoan development and multicellularity, including those involved in cell?cell communication, cell proliferation and cell differentiation. What remains unclear is the role of those genes in the unicellular relatives of animals, and how they were co-opted at the onset of Metazoa. To address those questions, we are developing a platform of genetically tractable model systems. Here, I present our advances in developing protocols for efficient transfection of plasmid DNA in four species of unicellular holozoans: the filasterean Capsaspora owczarzaki, the ichthyosporeans Creolimax fragrantissima and Abeoforma whisleri, and the corallochytrean Corallochytrium limacisporum.