The biannual international workshop entitled “The diversification of early emerging metazoans: A window into animal evolution?” took place at the Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, Germany, 11–14. September 2017. It was organized by Thomas Bosch (Kiel), Thomas Holstein (Heidelberg), and Ulrich Technau (Vienna), and it was sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The meeting gathered over 140 researchers to discuss the contribution of non‐bilaterian metazoan models (Porifera, Ctenophora, Placozoa, and Cnidaria) to our understanding of: a. The evolution of metazoan developmental processes; b. (...) Fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying metazoan features; and c. The complex interactions that animals establish with their environment. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractCephalopods provide a unique model system to investigate how organismal novelties evolve. In article number 1900073, Elena A. Ritschard et al. discuss how co-evolutionary signatures among various genomic characters have contributed to cephalopod organismal novelties and can be used to dissect their functional organization. Cover illustration by Hannah Schmidbaur.

How genomic innovation translates into organismal organization remains largely unanswered. Possessing the largest invertebrate nervous system, in conjunction with many species‐specific organs, coleoid cephalopods (octopuses, squids, cuttlefishes) provide exciting model systems to investigate how organismal novelties evolve. However, dissecting these processes requires novel approaches that enable deeper interrogation of genome evolution. Here, the existence of specific sets of genomic co‐evolutionary signatures between expanded gene families, genome reorganization, and novel genes is posited. It is reasoned that their co‐evolution has contributed to (...) the complex organization of cephalopod nervous systems and the emergence of ecologically unique organs. In the course of reviewing this field, how the first cephalopod genomic studies have begun to shed light on the molecular underpinnings of morphological novelty is illustrated and their impact on directing future research is described. It is argued that the application and evolutionary profiling of evolutionary signatures from these studies will help identify and dissect the organismal principles of cephalopod innovations. By providing specific examples, the implications of this approach both within and beyond cephalopod biology are discussed. (shrink)