I am beyond excited to share that my postdoc project @szndohrn.bsky.social and the @arnonelab.bsky.social is now available in #ScienceAdvances @science.org. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

With this project, funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, we identified the cell type repertoire of the postmetamorphic sea urchin juvenile at a single nucleus level.

By comparing juvenile and larval cell types, we identified those that retain developmental molecular signatures and gene regulatory fingerprints, as well as juvenile-specific ones.

Based on our findings, we report that the sea urchin juvenile body plan is head-like, similar to what has previously been demonstrated in sea stars and brittle stars, suggesting that echinoderms in general are predominantly head-like organisms.

Moreover, we found that the postmetamorphic nervous system, remarkable for its cell type diversity and complexity, also exhibits a head-like molecular signature and expresses vertebrate brain gene homologs.

Adding to this complexity, we discovered a vast array of photoreceptor cells with a conserved retinal molecular fingerprint, as well as a population expressing a rare combination of opsins that we hypothesize is an ideal candidate for non-ocular sea urchin vision.

Long considered brainless creatures, our results provide evidence that sea urchins possess a highly photosensitive nervous system organized in an “all-brain” manner instead.

With @szndohrn.bsky.social @danivoronov.bsky.social , @mlrusciano.bsky.social , @mariacocurullo.bsky.social, Filomena Caccavale, Giovanna Benvenuto