Project description:We performed single-cell transcriptome analysis (using MARS-seq) in the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica (adult and larval stages), in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi (adult stage), and in the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens (adult stage). Additionally we performed bulk iChIP experiments (2 replicates of each experiment) using antibodies against H3K4me3 and H3K4me2 in adult Mnemiopsis leidyi and adult Trichoplax adhaerens.
Project description:We performed single-cell transcriptome analysis (using 10x) of four placozoan species (Trichoplax adhaerens, Trichoplax sp. H2, Cladtertia collaboinventa, Hoilungia hongkongensis). Additionally we performed bulk ATAC-seq experiments and anti-H3K4me2/anti-H3K4me3 ChIP-seq experiments the same species.
Project description:Animals have evolved different foraging strategies in which some animals forage independently and others forage in groups. The evolution of social feeding does not necessarily require cooperation; social feeding can be a beneficial individual-level strategy if it provides mutualistic benefits, for example though increasing the efficiency of resource extraction or processing. We found that Trichoplax adhaerens, the simplest multicellular animal ever described, engages in social feeding behavior. T. adhaerens lacks muscle tissue, nervous and digestive systems - yet is capable of aggregating and forming groups of closely connected individuals who collectively feed. The tight physical interactions between the animals are transitory and appear to serve the goal of staying connected to neighbors during the external digestion of algae when enzymes are released on the biofilm and nutrients are absorbed through the ventral epithelium. We found that T. adhaerens are more likely to engage in social feeding when the concentrations of algae are high - both in a semi-natural conditions and in vitro. It is surprising that T. adhaerens - an organism without a nervous system - is able to engage in this social feeding behavior. Whether this behavior is cooperative is still an open question. Nevertheless, the social feeding behavior of T. adhaerens, an early multicellular animal, suggests that sociality may have played an important role in the early evolution of animals. It also suggests that T. adhaerens could be used as a simple model organism for exploring questions regarding ecology and sociobiology.
Project description:We provide data showing alternative splicing regulation by Muscleblind proteins in MEFs. MEFs lacking functional Muscleblind (DKO MEFs) were stably reconstituted with Muscleblind proteins from Homo sapiens, Ciona intestinalis, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans or Trichoplax adhaerens and splicing regulation was explored using RNA-seq analysis followed by MISO (Mixture of Isoforms).
