Whats the big deal with Sea Urchins?
With genomes being completed on a regular basis, the wrapping up of a new one is making less and less of a splash. An exception to this trend occurred yesterday with the completion of the sea urchin genome, specifically the one from the purple species Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Not only did this rate six separate articles in the latest issue of Science, but a special issue of Developmental Biology will be devoted to it in December. This is far more attention than the dog genome got, and is probably on par with the excitement that greeted the chimp genome. Those of you familiar with sea urchins from tide pools, aquariums, or Japanese restaurants may be a bit shocked by this level of buzz. After all, what could a prickly sphere tell us about humans, with our asymmetrically placed limbs and sensory organs? At the risk of making two-part posts a habit, I’ll spend today’s post letting you know why there’s so much excitement. A detailed analysis of the six papers will follow over the wee
