Characterization of bilaterian head patterning genes in a cnidarian reveals a key role for six3/6 in aboral domain development and provides new insight into the evolutionary origin of head development.

Stem cells are essential for animal development and adult tissue homeostasis, and the quest for an ancestral gene fingerprint of stemness is a major challenge for evolutionary developmental biology. Recent studies have indicated that a series of genes, including the transposon silencer Piwi and the translational activator Vasa, specifically involved in germline determination and maintenance in classical bilaterian models (e.g., vertebrates, fly, nematode), are more generally expressed in adult multipotent stem cells in other animals like flatworms and hydras. Since the progeny of these multipotent stem cells includes both somatic and germinal derivatives, it remains unclear whether Vasa, Piwi, and associated genes like Bruno and PL10 were ancestrally linked to stemness, or to germinal potential. We have investigated the expression of Vasa, two Piwi paralogues, Bruno and PL10 in Pleurobrachia pileus, a member of the early-diverging phylum Ctenophora, the probable sister group of cnidarians. These genes were all expressed in the male and female germlines, and with the exception of one of the Piwi paralogues, they showed similar expression patterns within somatic territories (tentacle root, comb rows, aboral sensory complex). Cytological observations and EdU DNA-labelling and long-term retention experiments revealed concentrations of stem cells closely matching these gene expression areas. These stem cell pools are spatially restricted, and each specialised in the production of particular types of somatic cells. These data unveil important aspects of cell renewal within the ctenophore body and suggest that Piwi, Vasa, Bruno, and PL10 belong to a gene network ancestrally acting in two distinct contexts: (i) the germline and (ii) stem cells, whatever the nature of their progeny.

Jellyfish (medusae) are a distinctive life-cycle stage of medusozoan cnidarians. They are major marine predators, with integrated neurosensory, muscular and organ systems. The genetic foundations of this complex form are largely unknown. We report the draft genome of the hydrozoan jellyfish Clytia hemisphaerica and use multiple transcriptomes to determine gene use across life-cycle stages. Medusa, planula larva and polyp are each characterized by distinct transcriptome signatures reflecting abrupt life-cycle transitions and all deploy a mixture of phylogenetically old and new genes. Medusa-specific transcription factors, including many with bilaterian orthologues, associate with diverse neurosensory structures. Compared to Clytia, the polyp-only hydrozoan Hydra has lost many of the medusa-expressed transcription factors, despite similar overall rates of gene content evolution and sequence evolution. Absence of expression and gene loss among Clytia orthologues of genes patterning the anthozoan aboral pole, secondary axis and endomesoderm support simplification of planulae and polyps in Hydrozoa, including loss of bilateral symmetry. Consequently, although the polyp and planula are generally considered the ancestral cnidarian forms, in Clytia the medusa maximally deploys the ancestral cnidarian-bilaterian transcription factor gene complement.