Project description:This work reveals the deeply conserved gene repertoire of animal stem cells, from sponges to mammals. mRNA profiles totipotent stem cells (archeocytes), choanocytes, other differentiated cell types in a freshwater sponge and were mapped on the reference transcriptome generated in the same study
Project description:Ephydatia muelleri is a cosmopolitan freshwater demosponge, with potential to become a model system. We have participated in a large collaborative project to sequence the genome (PRJNA579531), methylome, transcriptome for this species, aiming to better understand the biology of this sponge species. In terms of DNA methylation, it presents relatively low methylation levels compared to the methylomes of other sponges (A. queenslandica and S. ciliatum), suggesting quite a lot of varation within the sponge phylum.
Project description:Sponges (Porifera) are early-branching Metazoa who do not possess muscles or neurons, however are able to undergo a whole-body movement that involves the closure of their canal system and collapse of an epithelial tent. In this study we profile the proteomic responses of the freshwater sponge Spongilla lacustris during nitric oxide (NO) and agitation induced movements to elucidate the early evolution of coordination in animals. Specifically, we used tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling-based quantification of enriched phosphopeptides to systematically measure quantitative differences in protein phosphorylation. We identified and quantified 12165 unique phosphopeptides in the sponge. NO treatment resulted in quantitative changes of phosphorylation levels on 390 unique phosphopeptides mapping to 270 unique proteins. In turn, agitation led to quantitative changes of phosphorylation levels on 303 unique phosphopeptides (229 proteins).
Project description:Generation of thousands of high-quality, full-length 16S/18S rRNA sequences from complex microbial samples without rRNA primer bias.