Katerina Ragkousi

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Mark your calendars for May 18-22, 2026- in Roscoff, Brittany, for the next iteration of the Developmental Biology Conference Jacques Monod!

We thought we were just studying mesoglea biogenesis…Turns out Nematostella has been hiding a sophisticated backup pressure valve! Work driven by the talented PhD student Soham Basu! @embl.org‬ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The anti-neural role of BMP signaling is a side effect of its global function in dorsoventral patterning In Bilateria with centralized nervous systems (e.g. in vertebrates or arthropods), the minimum of the BMP signaling activity gradient defines the position of the central nervous system. BMP-dependent ...

The last part of @paulknabl.bsky.social 's PhD is now available at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Paul showed that BMP signaling is active in the diffuse nervous system of the sea anemone Nematostella and the box jellyfish Tripedalia. Moreover, suppression of BMP signaling in Nematostella leads...

It's #MicroscopyMonday, so let's take a peek into the 🔬
This movie was taken by Shinya Inuoe, who built the polarizing microscope that allowed scientists to see mitotic spindle fibers live for the first time.

Dr. Inuoe premiered his research at MBL.

Cartoon of autonomous and light-modulated spwning cycles in Clytia IZ-D

Intriguing findings from our Sendai collaborators Ruka Kitsui and Ryusaku Deguchi. While C. hemispherica spawns at dawn, Clytia IZ-D species spawns at dusk. This is not triggered by dark but, unexpectedly, by light-mediated extension of an autonomously-running 20h cycle. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Epithelial polarization by the planar cell polarity complex is exclusively non–cell autonomous For cells to polarize collectively along a tissue plane, asymmetrically localized planar cell polarity (PCP) complexes must form intercellular contacts between neighboring cells. Yet, it is unknown wh...

How many cells do you need to establish PCP? The magic number is 3! Beautiful work by Lena Basta in Danelle Devenport's lab. Happy to have contributed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Happy to announce our latest paper! A fresh look at the sponge Aggregation Factor, a glycoprotein complex involved in self-recognition and adhesion. Previously thought to be sponge-specific, we report compelling structural links with proteins found in all animals! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Congratulations to you and everyone involved!

β-catenin-driven endomesoderm specification is a Bilateria-specific novelty - Nature Communications Lebedeva et al. show that unlike Bilateria, the embryo of the cnidarian Nematostella specifies its endomesoderm in the β-catenin-negative domain. In contrast, subsequent β-catenin-dependent axial patt...

Tanya's @tclebedeva.bsky.social paper on endomesoderm specification in the beta-catenin-negative area of the Nematostella embryo is out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧬 February's most-read Genetics paper looks at how #RNA travels between cells to control genes across generations #epigenetics: buff.ly/ulMGsBH

Have a paper people should see? See what our Editors look for: buff.ly/HmuOWDp

One week left to apply!

Thrilled to see #choanoflagellates on the cover of Science Advances🤩. Our latest work "Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals" out now. Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👏 @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

Mitotic polarity oscillation promotes epithelial tumor progression Mitosis of epithelial cells requires a transient loss of epithelial polarity [[1][1]–[5][2]]. However, the nature of this mitotic polarity oscillation and its functional consequences for epithelial de...

by Jeyanathan et al from the Ulrich Tepass lab.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

it took me some time...🙂

Thank you, Eszter! It is a few months old now. I am looking forward to your visit!

Lateral cell polarization drives organization of epithelia in sea anemone embryos and embryonic cell aggregates | PNAS One of the first organizing processes during animal development is the assembly of embryonic cells into epithelia. Common features unite epithelial...

"Lateral cell polarization drives organization of epithelia in sea anemone embryos and embryonic cell aggregates"
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...