Origin of animal multicellularity and complex differentiation landscapes

Professor Bernie Degnan
UQ Development Fellow
School of Biological Sciences
The University of Queensland

Abstract: The shared ancestor of all living animals minimally possessed epithelial and mesenchymal cell types that could transdifferentiate over an ontogenetic life cycle. This capacity to develop and differentiate required a regulatory capacity to control spatial and temporal gene expression, and included a diversified set of signaling pathways, transcription factors, distal enhancers, promoters and noncoding RNAs. In this seminar, I track the evolution of the regulatory architecture underlying cell differentiation in multicellular animals and provide evidence consistent with the first animal cell having a stem-like capacity to transition between multiple differentiated states.

Bio: Bernie Degnan is a Professor and UQ Development Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences. His lab uses invertebrates living on the Great Barrier Reef to understand the genomic, molecular and cellular mechanisms underpinning the formation, evolution and functioning of animals. In the recent past, he has held ARC Professorial and Laureate Fellowships.