Cited by 1,555Marine Invertebrate Physiology and EcologyGenomics and Phylogenetic StudiesDevelopmental Biology and Gene Regulation

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 64 of the 71 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 6 are not checked yet; none of the 95 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Sea Anemone Genome Reveals Ancestral Eumetazoan Gene Repertoire and Genomic Organization

Open access

Abstract

Sea anemones are seemingly primitive animals that, along with corals, jellyfish, and hydras, constitute the oldest eumetazoan phylum, the Cnidaria. Here, we report a comparative analysis of the draft genome of an emerging cnidarian model, the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis . The sea anemone genome is complex, with a gene repertoire, exon-intron structure, and large-scale gene linkage more similar to vertebrates than to flies or nematodes, implying that the genome of the eumetazoan ancestor was similarly complex. Nearly one-fifth of the inferred genes of the ancestor are eumetazoan novelties, which are enriched for animal functions like cell signaling, adhesion, and synaptic transmission. Analysis of diverse pathways suggests that these gene “inventions” along the lineage leading to animals were likely already well integrated with preexisting eukaryotic genes in the eumetazoan progenitor.

Checked 2026-10-06 · 6 references not checked yet

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.1139158

Cites

64 of 70 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 95 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 160 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 83
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 55
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 5
126 of 126
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The rate of protein evolution was constant on the eumetazoan stem for the molecular clock estimate.

    “there is no guarantee that the rate of protein evolution was constant on the eumetazoan stem”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The null model in which scaffolds and human segments have gene content independently drawn from the ancestral set is appropriate for testing conserved linkage.

    “This number of shared orthologous genes was compared to a null model in which the scaffolds and segments have gene content independently drawn from the ancestral set.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Processes conserved between living species were likely functional in their common ancestor.

    “using the basic principle of evolutionary developmental biology: processes that are conserved between living species were likely functional in their common ancestor”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The eumetazoan ancestor was the progenitor of all extant animals with nervous systems.

    “The eumetazoan ancestor was the progenitor of all extant animals with nervous systems”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Present-day cnidarians lack a clear mesoderm.

    “present-day cnidarians lack a clear mesoderm”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Many genes involved in mesoderm development are associated with basic patterning and/or regulation of cell migration and fate.

    “many of these genes are associated either with basic patterning functions and/or the regulation of cell migration and fate”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Cnidarians and ctenophores are the earliest branching metazoan phyla with a nervous system.

    “Cnidarians and ctenophores are the earliest branching metazoan phyla that have a nervous system”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The estimates of tandem array sizes depend on normal cloning behavior for repetitive sequences.

    “These estimates depend on the assumptions of”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Any gene has an equal probability of getting duplicated and fixed in the population.

    “We then formulated a neutral-evolution hypothesis that any gene has an equal probability of getting duplicated and fixed in the population.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Intron losses have occurred independently in the human and Nematostella lineages.

    “Assuming that intron losses have occurred independently in the human and nematostella lineages”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The probability of independent intron insertion events at the same location is negligible.

    “and that the probability of independent intron insertion events at the same location is negligible”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The introns in highly conserved peptide regions studied are representative of introns in general.

    “To the extent that the introns in highly conserved peptide regions studied here are representative of introns in general”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The phylogenetic topology onto which intron characters were projected is correct.

    “projecting these characters onto the (known) topology.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The null model treats the genes in scaffolds and segments as independently drawn from the 7,766 ancestral genes.

    “a null model in which scaffolds and segments comprise genes descending from genes drawn independently from the set of 7,766 ancestral genes.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The centroid sequence is a surrogate for the peptide sequence ancestral to each orthologous cluster.

    “This provides a surrogate for the peptide sequence that is ancestral to each cluster.”
15 of 15

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Intron analysis gives two sample sizes

    Major

    The main-text figure description reports 5,175 introns for the seven-species analysis, whereas the methods report 4,342 introns at the same 2,645 aligned positions across seven genomes.

  • Hox-linked ancestral cluster count differs

    Minor

    The text and the Table S7.3 caption give 225 ancestral genes or clusters linked to the Hox region, but a supplemental description gives 255 for that linkage group.

  • Supplement assigns two different contents to Table S7.3

    Minor

    One passage describes Table S7.3 as a colored synteny grid with 112 significant cells; its caption instead identifies it as a list of 225 Hox-linked ancestral gene clusters.

  • Table S7.2 is described as both complete and limited to three groups

    Minor

    The text says Table S7.2 shows all 13 ancestral linkage groups, while its caption says the grid covers only groups A, B, and C.

  • KOG annotation percentage uses an inconsistent denominator

    Minor

    The stated 16,625 KOG-assigned proteins are 61.0% of the 27,273 representative models, not 78%. No alternative denominator is identified for this percentage.

    Reported 78 · recomputed 60.957724

5 of 5

Citations

Cites

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Show all 71 references

1 of the 71 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. C. Nielsen, in Animal Evolution (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, ed. 2, 2001), pp. 51–58.
  2. J. C. Sullivan, A. M. Reitzel, J. R. Finnerty, Genome Informatics17, 219 (2006).
  3. J. S. Conery, M. Lynch, Pac. Symp. Biocomput.2001, 167 (2001).

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Metadata

Authors
Putnam, N. H., Srivastava, M., Hellsten, U., Dirks, B., Chapman, J., Salamov, A., Terry, A., Shapiro, H., Lindquist, E., Kapitonov, V. V., Jurka, J., Genikhovich, G., Grigoriev, I. V., Lucas, S. M., Steele, R. E., Finnerty, J. R., Technau, U., Martindale, M. Q., & Rokhsar, D. S.
Affiliations
Genetic Information Research Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Rokhsar, Daniel S.
Venue
Science
Published
2007-07-06
Volume
317
Issue
5834
Pages
86-94
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2067558229
Cited by
1,555
References
71
Citations by year
2026: 27 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 72 · 2018: 84 · 2017: 81 · 2016: 89 · 2015: 97 · 2014: 89 · 2013: 83 · 2012: 110
FWCI
103.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
  • University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Public Health Service (THL007279F)
  • U.S. National Library of Medicine (P41LM006252)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
Keywords
Nematostella vectensis, Cnidaria, genome evolution, gene repertoire, exon-intron structure, genetic linkage, comparative genomics, signal transduction, adhesion, synaptic transmission, animal evolution
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell Adhesion, Biological Evolution, Genes, Multigene Family, Humans, Introns, Genetic Linkage, Muscles, Nervous System Physiological Phenomena, Phylogeny, Sea Anemones, Signal Transduction, Genome, Human, Genome, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Evolution, Molecular, Genomics, Synteny, Metabolic Networks and Pathways

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