... have identified the basal echinoid (cidaroid) pmar1 gene, which also promotes endomesoderm specification but not by repressing hesC . A further search for related genes demonstrated that other echinoderms have pmar1 -related genes named phb . Functional analyses of starfish Phb proteins indicated...

...Atsuko Yamazaki; Yumi Kidachi; Masaaki Yamaguchi; Takuya Minokawa Echinoids (sea urchins) are divided into two major groups – cidaroids (a ‘primitive’ group) and euechinoids (a ‘derived’ group). The cidaroids are a promising model species for understanding the ancestral developmental mechanisms...