... that all four Frizzled receptors take part in the cWnt-mediated oral-aboral axis patterning in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis but show partially redundant functions. However, we do not see evidence for their involvement in the specification of the endoderm – an earlier event likely relying...

... in non-bilaterians is unknown. Here, we study the expression and function of two paralogous classical cadherins, Cadherin 1 and Cadherin 3, in a diploblastic animal, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis . We show that a cadherin switch accompanies the formation of germ layers. Using specific antibodies...

... cnidarian Nematostella vectensis . Nvbrachyury is normally expressed in precursors of the pharynx, which separates endoderm from ectoderm. In knockout embryos, the pharynx does not form, embryos fail to elongate, and endoderm organization, ectodermal cell polarity and patterning along the oral-aboral axis...

..., the Cnidaria, occurs via interstitial stem cells that also possess broader, non-neural, developmental potential. We address this question by analysing neurogenesis in an anthozoan cnidarian, Nematostella vectensis . Using a transgenic reporter line, we show that NvSoxB(2 ) – an orthologue of bilaterian SoxB...

... metazoan, the cnidarian sea anemone Nematostella vectensis . Spatiotemporal expression of ash genes in the early embryo and larval stages suggests that they regulate neurogenesis. More specifically, NvashA is co-expressed with neural genes in the embryonic ectoderm. Knockdown of NvashA results in decreased...

...Nagayasu Nakanishi; Eduard Renfer; Ulrich Technau; Fabian Rentzsch As a sister group to Bilateria, Cnidaria is important for understanding early nervous system evolution. Here we examine neural development in the anthozoan cnidarian Nematostella vectensis in order to better understand whether...

... and insects, the transcription factor Mef2 plays a pivotal role in muscle differentiation; however, it is also an important regulator of neuron differentiation and survival. In the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis , an organism that lacks mesoderm but has muscles and neurons, Mef2 ( Nvmef2 ) has been...

... the blastopore, a prototype organizer gene regulatory axis from Lhx1 to chd has been suggested ( Fig. 6 ). Notably, the Nematostella blastopore lip, in which lhx1 and chd are expressed, reportedly has body axis-inducing activity, whereas aboral ectoderm and invaginating endoderm do not ( Kraus et al...

... signalling in a non-bilaterian animal, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis . We identified the complete set of FGF ligands and FGF receptors, of which two paralogous FGFs ( NvFGFa1 and NvFGFa2 ) and one FGF receptor( NvFGFRa ) are specifically coexpressed in the developing apical organ, a sensory...