Indirect development with an intermediate larva exists in all major animal lineages, which
makes larvae central to most scenarios of animal evolution,,,,,,,,–. Yet how larvae evolved …

Many animals undergo indirect development, where their embryogenesis produces an
intermediate life stage, or larva, that is often free‐living and later metamorphoses into an …

The transient larva-bearing biphasic life cycle is the hallmark of many metazoan phyla, but
how metazoan larvae originated remains a major enigma in animal evolution. There are two …

In many bilaterians, Hox genes are generally clustered along the chromosomes and
expressed in spatial and temporal order. In vertebrates, the expression of Hox genes follows …

Aquatic single-cell organisms have long been believed to be unique primary producers of
omega-3 long-chain (≥ C 20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 LC-PUFA). Multiple …

Among the annelids, earthworms are renowned for their phenomenal ability to regenerate
the lost segments. The adult earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae contains 120 segments and the …

Background Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is a crucial and widely used method for
gene expression analysis. Selecting suitable reference genes is extremely important for the …

Stolonization in syllid annelids is a unique mode of reproduction among animals. During the
breeding season, a structure resembling the adult but containing only gametes, called …

Toll-like receptors (TLR) are an important class of pattern recognition receptors involved in
innate immunity that recognize pathogen-associated and damage-associated molecular …

Indirect development with an intermediate larva exists in all major animal lineages1, and
thus larvae are central to most scenarios for animal evolution2-12. Yet how larvae evolved …