Metazoan life originated in the sea in close proximity to microbes (archaea, bacteria and viruses). Species at the base of the metazoan tree such as cnidarians, ctenophores and sponges, have been living and diversifying in a microbial suspension, marine waters, since their emergence in the Precambrian period. This proposal aims at characterizing the genomes of eight host species of basal metazoans (sponges, cnidarians, ctenophores) in great detail to advance the analysis of basal immune systems.
