Bernard M. Degnan

The paper shows that light cues prepare the genome for rapid metamorphosis in marine sponges by priming chromatin structure before environmental induction.

The paper tracks how symbiont biosynthetic output aligns with host developmental stages in a marine sponge holobiont, showing transcriptional changes in symbionts correlate with host metabolic needs.

The paper analyzes the hologenome of a marine sponge and its three symbionts, revealing that these symbionts disproportionately expand holobiont metabolism through enriched membrane transporter genes.

This study presents a multi-omic atlas of the siphonophore Physalia utriculus, revealing the regulatory mechanisms of colonial division of labour and the molecular basis of venom activity.

This study characterizes the cellular and morphogenetic events of sponge metamorphosis, revealing a coordinated program involving epithelial infoldings and cell transitions.

This study identifies early transcription factor activation as a regulatory checkpoint distinguishing symbiotic from non-symbiotic bacteria in sponges.

This study identifies seasonal gene expression changes in wild crown-of-thorns starfish, revealing reproductive and stress-related transcriptional systems linked to summer breeding and oogenesis.

This study shows that captivity causes large, sustained changes in gene expression in crown-of-thorns starfish, affecting oxidative stress, energy metabolism, and intercellular signaling.

The paper identifies conserved chromatin regulatory features in sponge embryogenesis, including distal enhancers and silencers, through chromatin accessibility profiling.

This paper presents the genome of Acanthopleura granulata, revealing conserved biomineralization genes and iron-related adaptations in chitons.

The paper identifies diverse RNAi components in non-bilaterian animals, revealing unique miRNA, piRNA, and endo-siRNA repertoires compared to bilaterians.