Cell Type and Gene Regulatory Network Approaches in the Evolution of Spiralian Biomineralisation

Victoria Sleight* (Corresponding Author)

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
3 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Biomineralisation is the process by which living organisms produce hard structures such as shells and bone. There are multiple independent origins of biomineralised skeletons across the tree of life. This review gives a glimpse into the diversity of spiralian biominerals and what they can teach us about the evolution of novelty. It discusses different levels of biological organisation that may be informative to understand the evolution of biomineralisation and considers the relationship between skeletal and non-skeletal biominerals. More specifically, this review explores if cell type and gene regulatory network approaches could enhance our understanding of the evolutionary origins of biomineralisation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)509-516
Number of pages8
JournalBriefings in Functional Genomics
Volume22
Issue number6
Early online date17 Aug 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Thanks to Kara Layton for expert advice on nudibranch biology, ecology and spicules, and to Namitha Paul for sea lemon collection and histology. Thanks to all members of the Sleight Lab and colleagues who joined our biomineralisation workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole in March 2023 for constructive discussion on the topics raised in this review. Thanks to Maryna P. Lesoway for inspiring conversations on spiralian evo-devo that contributed to some of the early ideas in this review. Thanks to Jessica A. Goodheart, Carmel McDougall, Molly Rivers and Danielle Jordan for critical reading of an early version of the manuscript. Thanks to two anonymous reviewers whose comments improved the final version of this manuscript.

FUNDING
V.A.S. is supported by research funds from the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/X511973/1), the Royal Society (RGS\R1\211204) and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Keywords

  • biomineralisation
  • evolution
  • cell type
  • gene regulatory networks
  • Spiralia
  • Gene Regulatory Networks

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