In this enlightening episode, Dr. Martín-Zamora takes listeners on a deep dive into the complex world of larvae evolution and how temporal shifts in trunk formation underpin the diversification of larvae and bilaterian life cycles. Despite larvae's central role in animal evolution scenarios across all major animal lineages, the understanding of how larvae evolved remains elusive. Dr. Martín-Zamora's groundbreaking research seeks to fill this knowledge gap.

Dr. Martín-Zamora presents his study, where chromosome-scale genome sequencing was performed on the annelid Owenia fusiformis, combined with transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling during the life cycles of this species and two other annelids. His research reveals that trunk development in O. fusiformis is postponed to pre-metamorphic stages in the feeding larva, in contrast to the non-fe ...