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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
2026
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| Online Access: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41959487/ |
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Table of Contents:
- Evolutionary rewiring of the endomesoderm gene regulatory networks specify skeleton secreting cells in stony corals. Besemer, Ryan M Slama, Laura Fogarty, Nicole Arnold, Sarah Sharp, Koty Babonis, Leslie S Warner, Jacob F Stony corals are the only cnidarians to secrete a robust calcium carbonate skeleton making them the critical keystone species for one of the most diverse marine ecosystems on earth: coral reefs. Despite their importance, very little is known about the genetic interactions that drive the earliest life history stages of corals during which coral-specific traits emerge, such as specification of coral skeletogenic cells. Here, we used a combination of chromatin profiling and gene expression assays to derive the -regulatory architectures of early coral development using the emerging model system . From this work we found that elements of the cnidarian endomesoderm gene regulatory network have been co-opted into a subnetwork underlying the specification of coral skeleton secreting cells. We further identified the -regulatory element responsible for the novel expression of the endomesodermal gene Brachyury in coral skeletogenic cells and demonstrated that this element is capable of reproducing similar expression patterns in , a distantly related species that does not produce a skeleton. These findings support a novel dual role of the endomesodermal GRN in establishing germ layer identity and specifying skeleton secreting cells in stony corals and provide a gene-regulatory framework that underpins the evolution and diversification of stony corals from other cnidarian lineages.