RNAseq of Hydroxyurea-treated and untreated Ephydatia muelleri

The body plan of sponges (phylum Porifera) is an outlier among modern animals and is thought to have special evolutionary significance. Sponges lack muscles, nerves and a gut. Instead, they are composed of few cell types and simple tissues that function to pump water through an internal canal network where bacterial prey are filtered by a specialized tissue called the choanoderm. The choanoderm is composed of cells with striking similarity to choanoflagellates, the unicellular relatives of animals. Thus, the traditional view is that the sponge choanoderm is a useful model of the first animal epithelial tissues. Using the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri, we have performed RNA sequencing on sponges which develop normally and sponges which have been experimentally manipulated to develop without choanoderm tissue. By comparing the two groups we can begin to assemble a list of candidate choanoderm specific genes