Sexual and asexual development: two distinct programs producing the same tunicate

• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108681
• Publication Date: 2021-01-26T15:34:33Z
• Authors: Mark Kowarsky; Chiara Anselmi; Kohji Hotta; Paolo Burighel; Giovanna Zaniolo; Federico Caicci; Benyamin Rosental; Norma F. Neff; Katherine J. Ishi...; Karla J. Palmeri; Jennifer Okamoto; Tal Gordon; Irving L. Weissman; Stephen R. Quake; Lucia Manni; Ayelet Voskoboynik
• Keywords: Tunicate; Chordate; Developmental Biology; Asexual reproduction; Organogenesis; Gene regulatory network

Colonial tunicates are the only chordate that possess two distinct developmental pathways to produce an adult body: either sexually through embryogenesis or asexually a stem cell-mediated renewal termed blastogenesis. Using colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri, we combine transcriptomics and microscopy build atlas of molecular morphological signatures at each stage for both pathways. The general profiles these processes largely distinct. However, relative timing organogenesis ordering tissue-specific gene expression conserved. By comparing B. schlosseri with other chordates, identify hundreds putative transcription factors conserved temporal expression. Our findings demonstrate convergent morphology need not imply mechanisms but it showcases importance cells play in producing same mature body different