Joint Seminar of Marine Genomics Unit and Evolutionary Neurobiology Unit, "Evolution of neurons and nervous systems - a cell type perspective"

Speaker; 
Dr. Detlev Arendt, Professor, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany. 

Title; 
Evolution of neurons and nervous systems - a cell type perspective

Abstract; 
New comparative studies based on whole-body single-cell sequencing
allow tracing the evolutionary diversification of cell types and the
concomitant rise of complexity - from unicellular ancestors to the urbilaterian.
I will present recent single-cell transcriptomics data from sponges
and annelids that allow us to molecularly characterize cell types and cell
type families across the animal kingdom. We have identified cellular
modules encoded by effector genes specific for cell types and cell type
families, termed apomeres, and candidate transcription factors that regulate
these modules, to begin the reconstruction of the metazoan cell type
tree. The new data has started to yield new insight into the evolutionary
origin of neurons nervous systems, suggesting that the diversification of
neural cell types predates the evolutionary origin of proper neurons.