Vasiliki Koutsouveli

The paper reconciles molecular and fossil evidence by showing sponges emerged in the early Ediacaran without spicules, which evolved independently multiple times later.

This study investigates microbial changes in sponge reproductive stages, finding that Nitrososphaeria archaea are significantly associated with microbial composition shifts in species with previtellogenic oocytes.

The paper presents a chromosome-level genome of Mnemiopsis leidyi, revealing unique immune gene domains and their expression in response to pathogen exposure.

The paper introduces a pipeline for efficiently assembling mitochondrial genomes from transcriptomic reads in non-model species, demonstrating its effectiveness across diverse invertebrates.