Comparative larval single-cell transcriptomics provides insights into the evolutionary origins of sensory-neural programmes in Porifera and Cnidaria

Neural-associated gene modules for photoreception, neural fate specification, and postsynaptic scaffolding are distributed across multiple epithelial and sensory-like sponge larval cell populations in Amphimedon queenslandica, not confined to one proto-neural type.

• Why it matters: Animal evolution depends on identifying how specialised sensory and neural cell programs emerged, and early-diverging metazoans like sponges may reveal pre-neural molecular toolkits.
• What they did: The study integrated larval single-cell transcriptomic datasets from Amphimedon queenslandica and four cnidarians, then used SAMap cross-species mapping and within-species analyses to compare neural and sensory-associated transcriptional modules.
• The result: Sponge larval cell populations show transcriptional similarities to cnidarian neural, sensory, and progenitor-associated types, supporting an evolutionary scenario where neural components were already deployed across diverse ancestral sensory-secretory cell types.

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