Salpingoeca rosetta ATCC50818 transcriptome project

Choanoflagellates are free-living unicellular and colonial flagellates considered to be the closest living relatives of the animals. Therefore, understanding choanoflagellate biology can illuminate the evolution of multicellularity in the animal lineage. The organism Salpingoeca sp. ATCC 50818 was chosen for genome sequencing because it undergoes a series of morphological transitions during the differentiation and development of both solitary and colonial forms. The sequencing of the Salpingoeca sp. ATCC 50818 genome, in conjuction with the transcriptional profiling of different cell types, enables exploration into the molecular mechanisms that mediate choanoflagellate colony formation and allows for the testing of hypotheses about the origin of animals. NOTE: This organism was formerly known as Proterospongia sp. ATCC 50818.