Over 600 million years ago, animals evolved from a unicellular or colonial organism whose
cell (s) captured bacteria with a collar complex, a flagellum surrounded by a microvillar …

How animals evolved from a single-celled ancestor, transitioning from a unicellular lifestyle
to a coordinated multicellular entity, remains a fascinating question. Key events in this …

We investigated genome folding across the eukaryotic tree of life. We find two types of three-
dimensional (3D) genome architectures at the chromosome scale. Each type appears and …

Proper biological interpretation of a phylogeny can sometimes hinge on the placement of
key taxa—or fail when such key taxa are not sampled. In this light, we here present the first …

INTRODUCTION The complete sequence of animal genomes has had a transformative
impact on biological research. Whereas the genome sequence of an organism contains the …

Sedimentary habitats cover most of the ocean bottom and therefore constitute the largest
single ecosystem on Earth in spatial coverage. The benthic ecosystem contributes to human …

Molluscs comprise the second largest phylum of animals (after arthropods), occurring in
virtually all habitats. Some are commercially important, a few are pests and some carry …

Chaetognaths (arrow worms) are an enigmatic group of marine animals whose phylogenetic
position remains elusive, in part because they display a mix of developmental and …

The position of Xenacoelomorpha in the tree of life remains a major unresolved question in
the study of deep animal relationships. Xenacoelomorpha, comprising Acoela …

Phylogenomic studies have improved understanding of deep metazoan phylogeny and
show promise for resolving incongruences among analyses based on limited numbers of …