Poster #082, University of California, San Francisco
How Single-Celled Choanoflagellates Evolved into Multicellular Organisms
Mentors: Adriana Guajardo PhD Candidate, Dayana Moncada, David Booth, PhD
Choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives to animals, with both groups transitioning from single-celled states to multicellularity through complex gene regulation. This shared evolutionary process is highlighted by the use of the CREB3 transcription factor, which plays a key role in both lineages. This leads to our question: how did choanoflagellates, single-celled organisms, share an evolutionary relationship with multicellular organisms? We aim to investigate the evolution of animal multicellularity through developmental stages in choanoflagellates. To understand the relationship, we generated truncations of the protein domains and inserted them into different areas of the genome to observe any changes in rosette formation. We expect our results to give a better understanding by demonstrating origin of multicellularity and define animal genes. It gives us an idea of what animal traits have been specialized through adaptation.