Comparative transcriptomics reveal the common anteroposterior molecular blueprint of adult bilaterian guts
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A through-gut is one of the major features of most animals that is established during early development by common gut patterning systems along its anterior posterior (AP) axis. A collaboration of four research groups at Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, discovered that these AP gut patterning systems comprising of various transcription factors like Hox and Parahox appear to be deployed not only in embryonic/larval guts but also in fully differentiated adult guts in animals that exhibit bilateral symmetry (bilateria) like annelid worms, sea urchins, and vertebrates like us. This is surprising especially in animals that are extensively rebuilding their gut after metamorphosis like the sea urchin. Thus, our study identified conserved and modified adult AP patterning modules along the adult bilaterian gut, an observation with profound implications for the evolution of the bilaterian body plan.
This collaborative effort of four ICOB teams was published in January 2026 in PLOS Biology. The first author is Stefano Vianello, with Vincent Laudet, Yi-Hsien Su, Jr-Kai Yu, and Stephan Q. Schneider as corresponding authors. The research team includes Ching-Yi Lin, Wahyu Cristine Pinem, Han-Ru Li, Kun-Lung Li, Grace Sonia, Shu-Hua Lee, and Szu-Kai Wu. This research was supported by Academia Sinica’s Grand Challenge grant number AS-GC-111-L01 (“Towards an integrated understanding of metamorphosis in bilaterians”).
Publication: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003571
