In and evaginations of 2D cell sheets are major shape generating processes in animal development. They result from directed movement and intercalation of polarized cells associated with cell shape changes. Work on several bilaterian model organisms has emphasized the role of noncanonical Wnt signaling in cell polarization and movement. However, the molecular processes responsible for generating tissue and body shape in ancestral, prebilaterian animals are unknown. We show that noncanonical Wnt signaling acts in mass tissue movements during bud and tentacle evagination and regeneration in the cnidarian polyp Hydra . The wnt5 , wnt8 , frizzled2 ( fz2 ), and dishevelled -expressing cell clusters define the positions, where bud and tentacle evaginations are initiated; wnt8 , fz2 , and dishevelled remain up-regulated in those epithelial cells, undergoing cell shape changes during the entire evagination process. Downstream of wnt and dsh expression, JNK activity is required for the evagination process. Multiple ectopic wnt5 , wnt8 , fz2 , and dishevelled -expressing centers and the subsequent evagination of ectopic tentacles are induced throughout the body column by activation of Wnt/β-Catenin signaling. Our results indicate that integration of axial patterning and tissue morphogenesis by the coordinated action of canonical and noncanonical Wnt pathways was crucial for the evolution of eumetazoan body plans.

The c- myc protooncogene encodes a transcription factor (Myc) with oncogenic potential. Myc and its dimerization partner Max are bHLH-Zip DNA binding proteins controlling fundamental cellular processes. Deregulation of c- myc leads to tumorigenesis and is a hallmark of many human cancers. We have identified and extensively characterized ancestral forms of myc and max genes from the early diploblastic cnidarian Hydra , the most primitive metazoan organism employed so far for the structural, functional, and evolutionary analysis of these genes. Hydra myc is specifically activated in all stem cells and nematoblast nests which represent the rapidly proliferating cell types of the interstitial stem cell system and in proliferating gland cells. In terminally differentiated nerve cells, nematocytes, or epithelial cells, myc expression is not detectable by in situ hybridization. Hydra max exhibits a similar expression pattern in interstitial cell clusters. The ancestral Hydra Myc and Max proteins display the principal design of their vertebrate derivatives, with the highest degree of sequence identities confined to the bHLH-Zip domains. Furthermore, the 314-amino acid Hydra Myc protein contains basic forms of the essential Myc boxes I through III. A recombinant Hydra Myc/Max complex binds to the consensus DNA sequence CACGTG with high affinity. Hybrid proteins composed of segments from the retroviral v-Myc oncoprotein and the Hydra Myc protein display oncogenic potential in cell transformation assays. Our results suggest that the principal functions of the Myc master regulator arose very early in metazoan evolution, allowing their dissection in a simple model organism showing regenerative ability but no senescence.

Hydra is a classic and simple model for pattern formation and regeneration research. More recently, it has also been promoted as a model to study ancestral stem cell biology. Three independent cell lineages form the body of the polyp and exhibit characteristics of stem cell systems. In order to define differences in stemness between the ectodermal and endodermal epitheliomuscular cell lineages and the interstitial cell lineage, we compare cellular properties and decision making. We argue that these three lineages are expected to show substantial variation in their stemness-related gene regulatory networks. Finally, we discuss Wnt signalling pathways and Myc oncoproteins, which are beginning to offer a perspective on how proliferation and differentiation might be regulated.

The epithelial and interstitial stem cells of the freshwater polypHydraare the best-characterized stem cell systems in any cnidarian, providing valuable insight into cell type evolution and the origin of stemness in animals. However, little is known about the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that determine how these stem cells are maintained and how they give rise to their diverse differentiated progeny. To address such questions, a thorough understanding of transcriptional regulation inHydrais needed. To this end, we generated extensive new resources for characterizing transcriptional regulation inHydra, including new genome assemblies forHydra oligactisand the AEP strain ofHydra vulgaris, an updated whole-animal single-cell RNA-seq atlas, and genome-wide maps of chromatin interactions, chromatin accessibility, sequence conservation, and histone modifications. These data revealed the existence of large kilobase-scale chromatin interaction domains in theHydragenome that contain transcriptionally coregulated genes. We also uncovered the transcriptomic profiles of two previously molecularly uncharacterized cell types: isorhiza-type nematocytes and somatic gonad ectoderm. Finally, we identified novel candidate regulators of cell type–specific transcription, several of which have likely been conserved at least since the divergence ofHydraand the jellyfishClytia hemisphaericamore than 400 million years ago.

Bending of 2D cell sheets is a fundamental morphogenetic mechanism during animal development and reproduction. A critical player driving cell shape during tissue bending is the actin cytoskeleton. Much of our current knowledge about actin dynamics in whole organisms stems from studies of embryonic development in bilaterian model organisms. Here, we have analysed actin-based processes during asexual bud evagination in the simple metazoan Hydra. We created transgenic Hydra strains stably expressing the actin marker Lifeact-GFP in either ectodermal or endodermal epitheliomuscular cells. We then combined live imaging with conventional phalloidin staining to directly follow actin reorganization. Bending of Hydra's epithelial double layer is initiated by a group of epitheliomuscular cells in the endodermal layer. These cells shorten their apical-basal axis and arrange their basal muscle processes in a circular configuration. We propose that this rearrangement generates the initial forces to bend the endoderm towards the ectoderm. Convergent tissue movement in both epithelial layers towards the centre of evagination then leads to elongation and extension of the bud along its new body axis. Tissue movement into the bud is associated with lateral intercalation of epithelial cells, remodelling of apical septate junctions, and rearrangement of basal muscle processes. The work presented here extends the analysis of morphogenetic mechanisms beyond embryonic tissues of model bilaterians.