Description | : | We study the embryos of ascidians, a group of small marine invertebrates some of which are seen as delicacies in France and Japan (sea squirts, sea pineapples). We chose this group of animals because the different species included in this group have very different genomes, but develop in an almost identical manner, such that homologous cells can be found across all embryos of a species, and even between distantly related species! To understand this apparent paradox, we combine light-sheet imaging of live embryos, (epi)genome sequencing, classical embryology and computer modelling. Our hope is that this work will allow us to better understand the sometimes tortuous paths of species evolution. |
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Address | : | CNRS - CRBM - UMR5237 1919, route de Mende 34293 - Montpellier Cedex 05 |
Website | : | http://www.crbm.cnrs.fr |
Institute | : | Centre de Recherche de Biochimie Macromoléculaire (CRBM) |