Jacob F. Warner

Extreme conservation of cnidarian stinging cell identity despite 600 million years of evolution

The paper shows that cnidarian stinging cells, specifically spirocytes, are highly conserved over 600 million years, while nematocytes show more diversification, controlled by the FoxL2 gene.

Evolutionary rewiring of an ancient gene regulatory network specifies secretory cells in stony corals

The paper identifies an evolutionary rewired gene regulatory network in stony corals that specifies secretory cells, using chromatin profiling and transcriptomics in Astrangia poculata.

Microinjection, gene knockdown, and CRISPR-mediated gene knock-in in the hard coral, Astrangia poculata

This study develops gene manipulation tools in the coral Astrangia poculata, enabling functional studies of development and regeneration.

Whole body regeneration deploys a rewired embryonic gene regulatory network logic

The paper compares embryonic and regeneration gene regulatory networks in Nematostella vectensis, showing regeneration reuses embryonic modules with specific network logic and identifies apoptosis as a regeneration-specific event.

NvERTx: A gene expression database to compare Embryogenesis and Regeneration in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

NvERTx provides a gene expression database comparing embryogenesis and regeneration in Nematostella vectensis using RNA-seq data.