Sea Anemones Reveal 700-Million-Year-Old Body-Building Mechanism Shared With Humans
Updated
Updated · Yahoo News Canada · Aug 24
Sea Anemones Reveal 700-Million-Year-Old Body-Building Mechanism Shared With Humans
2 articles · Updated · Yahoo News Canada · Aug 24
Summary
University of Vienna scientists found sea anemones use Chordin-mediated BMP shuttling to shape their body axes, a mechanism long associated with bilaterians including humans.
BMP signals tell embryonic cells what tissues to form, and the team showed Chordin in sea anemones acts as a shuttle much as it does in animals such as flies and frogs.
That overlap suggests the patterning system may predate the cnidarian-bilaterian split 600 million to 700 million years ago, pointing to an unexpectedly ancient body-plan blueprint.
The researchers said independent evolution still cannot be ruled out, but the finding strengthens the case that a common ancestor already used BMP shuttling; the study appeared in Science Advances in 2025.