Origin of metazoans

Chairperson: Evelyn HOULISTON
Sorbonne University / CNRS, UMR 7009, Laboratoire de Biologie du Développement de Villefranche-sur-Mer, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
Phone: +33 (0)4 93 76 39 83
Email: houliston@imev-mer.fr

Vice-chairperson: Arnau SEBÉ-PEDRÓS
Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) -PRBB building, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Phone: +34 93 316 01 46
Email: arnau.sebe@crg.eu

All living animals, the metazoans, are derived from a single ancestral multicellular assemblage that formed in the earth’s oceans hundreds of millions of years ago. The origin and the early evolution of this unique metazoan ancestor remain among the most fascinating questions in biology. A highly interdisciplinary emerging international community has started to build a new framework for understanding the origin of metazoans and will be brought together at this meeting.

The core issue of reconstructing the history of animal evolution will be illuminated by experts in both paleontology and molecular phylogeny. One crucial issue addressed at the meeting will be the topology of the metazoan tree at its base using data from outside the major clade Bilateria: the sponges, the ctenophores, the cnidarians and the placozoans. Also making important contributions to understanding of the transition to multicellularity are cell biologists, notably through analysis and comparison of individual cellular features such as cell polarity, cell-cell junctions and cellular symbioses. The cellular perspective is also coming to the fore via rapid developments in single cell transcriptome sequencing, allowing us to address how progressive specialization of individual cell types underpins animal evolution.

Finally, an important source of insights into animal evolution are studies using experimental “model” species drawn from the non-bilaterian animal groups, as well as from outside the metazoans. Metazoan models covered at the meeting include the cnidarians Hydra, Hydractinia and Nematostella, the ctenophore Mnemiopsis, and several sponge species, as well as the enigmatic placozoan Trichoplax. Also considered will be the parallel evolutionary adventures in multicellularity of other eukaryotes including plants, fungi and brown algae.

Topics covered by the conference will thus be

• Lessons from non-metazoan eukaryotes: the protistan relatives of animals and other multicellular transitions. 
• Animal phylogenetic relationships
• Lessons from the fossil record
• Evolution of cellular features and cell types
• Lessons from non-bilaterian models:  ctenophores, sponges, placozoans and cnidarians

Invited speakers

(provisional titles)

Session 1. Lessons from non-metazoan relatives

• Thibaut Brunet (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, USA)
  Reconstructing the cellular phenotype of the single-celled ancestor of animals
• Susana Coelho (Max Planck Institute, Tübingen, Germany)
  Origin and evolution of the sexes: lessons from non-metazoans cousins
• László Nagy (Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary)
  Taxonomic vs genomic fungi: large turnover of protistan genetic heritage in the fungal kingdom.
• Jill Harrison (University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom)
  The origin and rise of vascular plants
   

Session 2. Lessons from the fossil record

• Abder El Albani (University of Poitiers, France)
  Life history: A new perspective in the understanding of the emergence of multicellularity
• Jean Vannier (University of Lyon 1, France)
  Understanding animal radiation in the Cambrian: Why fossils are so important
• Phil Donoghue (University of Bristol, United Kingdom)
  Developmental biology of early animals and their near relatives
   

Session 3. Animal evolutionary relationships and tree topology

• Hervé Philippe (CBTM, Moulis, France)
  Phylogénie des eucaryotes
• Gert Wörheide (LMU, Munich, Germany)
  Towards resolving controversial nodes in the animal tree of life
• Casey Dunn (Yale University, New Haven, USA)
  Phylogenetic comparative analyses of functional genomics
• Camille Berthelot (IBENS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France)
  Combining synteny and sequence-based approaches to investigate genome evolution
   

Session 4. Lessons from Placozoans

• Harald Gruber-Vodicka (MPI, Bremen, Germany)
  Symbiosis as a driver of metazoan evolution
• Tatiana Mayorova (NIH, Bethesda, USA)
  Placozoan cell types - counterparts of cell types in other animal phyla?
   

Session 5. Evolution of cells and cell types

• Arnau Sebé Pedros (CRG, Barcelona, Spain)
  Single-cell analysis of early metazoan cell type programs
• Juliette Azimzadeh (Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, France)
  Evolutionary perspective on centriole polarisation in multiciliated cells
• Detlev Arendt (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany)
  The assembly of molecular machinery in metazoan cell type evolution
• Kristin Tessmar-Raible (University of Vienna, Austria)
  Telling time by sun and moon: What marine worms and midges can tell about the evolution of the mechanisms
   

Session 6. Lessons from Sponges and Ctenophores

• Emmanuelle Renard (IMBE, Marseille, France)
  Insights into the first glass sponge genome
• Sally Leys (Univeristy of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
  Sponge lives matter: physiology of sponges in the genomic era
• Bernie Degnan (Universty of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia)
  Origin of animal multicellularity and complex differentiation landscapes
• Ana Riesgo (Natural History Museum,  London, United Kingdom)
  Bacteria and sex: The role of the microbiome in the sexual determination and strategy shifts of sponges
• Joe Ryan (Whitney Laboratory, University of Florida, USA)
  Evidence for muscle cell types in the last common animal ancestor
• André Le Bivic (IBDM, Marseille, France)
  Evolution of adherens junctions in epithelial cells of metazoans
   

Session 7. Lessons from Cnidarians

• Richard Copley (LBDV, Villefranche-sur-mer, France)
  Genes of the cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor
• Celina Juliano (University of Davis, California, USA)
  Mechanisms of Development and Regeneration in Hydra
• Matt Gibson (Stowers Institute, Kansas, USA)
  Tracing the origins of segmentation and segment polarization in animals
• Ulrich Technau (University of Vienna, Austria)
  Assessing Genomic and cellular features of complexity in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis

Deadline for application: March 14, 2022

Registration fee (including board and lodging)

• 470 € for PhD students
• 810 € for other participants

Application for registration

The total number of participants is limited to 115 and all participants are expected to attend for the whole duration of the conference. Selection is made on the basis of the affinity of potential participants with the topics of the conference. Scientists and PhD Students interested in the meeting should deposit online before the deadline:  https://cjm1-2021.sciencesconf.org/  

• their curriculum vitae
• the proof of their student status
• the list of their main publications for the 3 last years
• the abstract of their presentation:

The abstract must respect the following template:

• First line: title
• Second line: list of authors
• Third line: author's addresses
• Fourth line: e-mail of the presenting author

Abstract should not exceed 600 words. No figures.

After the deadline, the organizers will select the participants. Except in some particular cases approved by the Chairperson, it is recommended that all selected participants present their work during the conference, either in poster form or by a brief in- session talk. The organizers choose the form in which the presentations are made. No payment will be sent with application. Information on how and when to pay will be mailed in due time to those selected.