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Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena have discovered that comb jellies (cnidarians) possess an embryonic signaling center, a group of cells that establishes the body's directional axes during development. This finding demonstrates that this fundamental developmental mechanism, previously thought to be specific to vertebrates, is shared across early animal evolution. The presence of such signaling centers in cnidarians, which diverged early in animal evolution, suggests this developmental strategy is more ancient and conserved than previously understood.
Why it matters
This discovery reshapes our understanding of animal evolution by revealing that complex embryonic patterning mechanisms emerged much earlier than previously thought. It provides insights into the fundamental developmental processes shared across diverse animal groups and helps trace the evolutionary origins of body plan organization.
In order for vertebrate embryos to develop their body axes, they require what is known as an embryonic signaling center. This group of cells provides the instructions that determine where up and down, left and right, and front and back are. Biologists at Friedrich Schiller University Jena have now discovered that even cnidarians—which form the sister group to all other multicellular animals, according to current understanding—possess this fundamental coordinate system. The study is published in the journal Nature.
Source: Comb jelly embryos reveal embryonic signaling center shared across early animal evolution