Cranial placodes (which include the adenohypophyseal, olfactory, lens, otic, lateral line,
profundal/trigeminal, and epibranchial placodes) give rise to many sense organs and …

Amphioxus has an assortment of cells and organs for sensing light and mechanical stimuli.
Vertebrate counterparts of these structures are not always apparent, and a strong case can …

The Earth's oceans brim with an incredible diversity of microscopic lifeforms, including motile
planktonic larvae, whose survival critically depends on effective dispersal in the water …

Since its initial publication in 2002, the genome of Ciona intestinalis type A (Ciona robusta),
the first genome sequence of an invertebrate chordate, has provided a valuable resource for …

Placodes and neural crests represent defining features of vertebrates, yet their relationship
remains unclear despite extensive investigation,–. Here we use a combination of lineage …

The cosmopolitan ascidian Ciona intestinalis is the most common model species of
Tunicata, the sister-group of Vertebrata, and widely used in developmental biology …

Retinoic acid (RA) is a vitamin A‐derived morphogen important for axial patterning and
organ formation in develo** vertebrates and invertebrate chordates (tunicates and …

Amphioxus neuroanatomy is important not just in its own right but also for the insights it
provides regarding the evolutionary origin and basic organization of the vertebrate nervous …

Little is known about the ancient chordates that gave rise to the first vertebrates, but the
descendants of other invertebrate chordates extant at the time still flourish in the ocean …

Cephalochordates and tunicates represent the only two groups of invertebrate chordates,
and extant cephalochordates–commonly known as amphioxus or lancelets–are considered …