Núria Sánchez-Pons

TL;DR: It is proposed that the acquisition of these metazoan-specific developmental systems and the co-option of pre-existing genes drove the evolutionary transition from unicellular protists to metazoans.

TL;DR: The findings suggest that proteins essential for metazoan Filopodia and microvilli are functionally conserved in unicellular and colonial holozoans and that the last common ancestor of metazoans bore a complex and specific filopodial machinery.

TL;DR: Development of genetic tools in a close unicellular relative of animals, the filasterean Capsaspora owczarzaki, will open new opportunities for functional studies to understand the transition to animal multicellularity.

TL;DR: The results suggest that adhesion to the substrate in C. owczarzaki is mediated by integrins, and it is proposed that integrin-mediated adhesion pre-dates the emergence of animals.

TL;DR: Investigation of cell-substrate adhesion in Capsaspora owczarzaki, the closest unicellular relative of animals with the most complete integrin adhesome, suggests that integrin-mediated adhesion pre-dates the emergence of animals.