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 …

The innate immune system is the first line of defense against pathogens, which is initiated by
the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and endogenous …

INTRODUCTION Most multicellular organisms have a major body cavity that harbors
immune cells. In primordial species such as the purple sea urchin, these cells—called …

We report the sequence and analysis of the 814-megabase genome of the sea urchin
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a model for developmental and systems biology. The …

The innate system's recognition of non-self and danger signals is mediated by a limited
number of germ-line encoded pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognize pathogen …

Echinoderms occupy a critical and largely unexplored phylogenetic vantage point from
which to infer both the early evolution of bilaterian immunity and the underpinnings of the …

The vast majority of research on nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) signaling in the past 25 years has
focused on its roles in normal and disease‐related processes in vertebrates, especially mice …

Comparative analysis of the sea urchin genome has broad implications for the primitive state
of deuterostome host defense and the genetic underpinnings of immunity in vertebrates. The …

The coelomocytes of Caenorhabditis elegans are scavenger cells that continuously and
nonspecifically endocytose fluid from the pseudocoelom (body cavity). Green fluorescent …

ABSTRACT The Scavenger Receptor Cysteine-Rich (SRCR) domain is an ancient and
highly conserved protein module of~ 100− 110 amino acids, which defines a superfamily …