[Biology] Anemone genome gives new view of multi-celled ancestors
BERKELEY – The first analysis of the genome of the sea anemone shows it to be nearly as complex as the human genome, and researchers say it provides major insights into the common ancestor of not only humans and sea anemones, but of nearly all multi-celled animals.
A view into the mouth of the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. The anemone, only a few inches long and endowed with between 16 and 20 tentacles, lives in the mud of brackish estuaries and marshes. It is becoming a popular laboratory subject for studies of development, evolution, genomics, reproductive biology and ecology. (Nicholas Putnam/UC Berkeley photo)
Funding for the project came from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and from the U.S. Department of Energy.
