Ctenophores as an animal phylum

that the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), can serve as the core of a global bioidentification system for animals. We show firstly that COI profiles, derived from the low-density sampling of higher taxonomic categories, ordinarily assign newly analyzed taxa to the appropriate phylum or order. We

Summary of genital asymmetry in those animal taxa that have intromittent genitalia and internal fertilization. The taxonomic classification follows Noordijk et al. (2010). Abbreviations used: AS: antisymmetric; DA: directionally asymmetric.; DA/SYM: within the same species, a directional asymmetry

More than a century ago, the simplest of all metazoans was discovered and described as Trichoplax adhaerens [1]. These tiny, flattened animals lack symmetry, mouth, gut, nervous system, and extra-cellular matrix and constitute the apparently monotypic phylum Placozoa. Placozoans diverged early

Coral reefs provide enormous environmental and economic benefits: they protect coasts, harbor vast biodiversity, sequester carbon, support fisheries and create tourist destinations. The principal architects of these reefs are the coral animals (Phylum Cnidaria),

organism, the hydra. Four constituent behaviors were implemented in a simulated animal, and the overall behavior organization was accomplished using a colony-style architecture (CSA). The results indicate that the CSA, using a priority-based behavioral hierarchy suggested in the literature, can be used

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is unique among model animals in that many of its genes are cotranscribed as polycistronic pre-mRNAs from operons. The mechanism by which these operonic transcripts are resolved into mature mRNAs includes trans-splicing to a family of SL2-like spliced leader

Blosyrus L U D/P [7]

to calcium levels. In animals, Na+/Ca2+ exchangers are divided into three groups based upon stoichiometry: Na+/Ca2+ exchangers (NCX), Na+/Ca2+/K+ exchangers (NCKX), and Ca2+/Cation exchangers (CCX). In mammals there are three NCX genes, five NCKX genes and one CCX (NCLX) gene. The genome of the nematode

by the lack of informative out-group data. To address this shortcoming, we determined complete mitochondrial DNA sequences for the demosponges Geodia neptuni and Tethya actinia, two representa-tives of the most basal animal phylum, the Porifera. With sponges as an outgroup, we investigated phylogenetic