Comparative cell-lineage analysis in Deuterostomia

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The phylogeny of deuterostomes and evolution of chordate features is controversially debated. Molecular phylogenies result in conflicting topologies and morphological characters and lesser animal taxa are often ignored. However, morphology hosts a plethora of informative characters and is currently transformed through internet-based databases, collaborative ontologies, and new standards in data documentation and character coding. In the present proposal, I request funding to further contribute to this endeavor, focusing on comparative ontogenetic cell-lineage analyses in deuterostomes. Precise cell-lineage data gathered by 4D-microscopy have been successfully used in an exemplary study of the tunicate Oikopleura dioica (Stach et al., 2008) and confirmed their usefulness in phylogenetic studies. Here, I specifically propose to comparatively investigate the cell-lineage of several ascidian species, a cephalochordate, and an echinoderm. This will significantly broaden our conception of the evolution of development at the cellular level and of morphogenesis within deuterostomes. By utilizing the resulting data in collaboratively developed phylogenetic matrices that are integrated in the online-platform Morph-D-Base, the contribution of deuterostome morphology to metazoan phylogenies will be considerably advanced.