Nicole King

"The transition to that launched the evolution of animals from marks one of the most pivotal, and poorly understood, events in . Advances in and , and particularly the study of s, are yielding new insights into the biology of the unicellular progenitors of animals. and gene families critical for animal development (including s and s) evolved in protozoa before the origin of animals. Innovations in and expansions of certain gene families may have allowed the integration of cell behavior during the earliest experiments with multicellularity. The protozoan perspective on animal origins promises to provide a valuable window into the distant past and into the cellular bases of animal development."

"s have a secret. While our research is motivated by a desire to reconstruct , it can also provide novel insights into fundamental cellular mechanisms in modern s. Studies of evolution reveal how the cell's component parts were “assembled” over time, how and why cells are vulnerable to disease and death, the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for fundamental cellular processes, and those mechanisms that distinguish the and of different lineages of organisms from each other. Studies of “evolutionary cell biology” promise to deepen our understanding of how cells function."

"... in the closing line of Darwin's ', he remarked on 'endless forms most beautiful', and he was referring to the incredible diversity of s ... much of his research and thinking had to with trying to understand: How do we get this diversity of s? And, there's been a great deal of progress in this regard, largely from the work of s, s, and s working together to try to understand what are molecular mechanistic underpinnings of the diversification of animal body plans. ... Animals are united by their shared ancestry. They all share a common ancestor … And, in fact, we know relatively little about the nature of that organism."