Choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives of animals; therefore, they provide an ideal model for the protozoan ancestor of animals. To understand how animal-microbiome interactions originated, we aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which choanoflagellate development is regulated by bacterial signals. Two different choanoflagellate phenotypes (multicellularity and mating) are now known to be regulated by bacterially produced molecular cues (polar lipids and a chondroitinase). Our discoveries of these cues and their implications will be discussed.<br/>

Bacterial signals regulate multicellularity and mating in animals' closest relative

256th National Meeting (2018)

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