jrf3@bu.edu

Molecular Ecology and Evolution

Assistant Professor of Biology
Ph. D. University of Chicago, 1994

Evolution of development, developmental genetics, phylogenetics, evolutionary genomics, invertebrate zoology

My laboratory seeks insights into one of the most fundamental but least understood questions in evolutionary biology: namely, how can we explain the tremendous diversity of life forms? For example, the thirty-five extant animal phyla display a bewildering array of body plans, each distinctly different from the others, with little or no evidence of intermediate forms, even in the fossil record. To better understand the origins of this diversity, we look for evidence of evolutionary continuity between the body plans of distantly related animals. We can often find evidence of underlying continuity by studying the genes that act during development to produce the final body plan. Such genes may display conservation in sequence, expression, or function, even when morphology is highly modified. In our studies of these developmental regulatory genes and their impact on animal evolution, we employ a comparative, multi-faceted approach involving aspects of molecular biology, genomics, phylogenetics, and developmental biology. Our primary study animals are "basal" members of the animal kingdom including the sea anemones of the phylum Cnidaria, and the comb-jellies of the phylum Ctenophora. These fascinating aquatic "jellies" last shared a common ancestor with man more than 600 million years ago, but they share with us many important evolutionary innovations including muscle cells, nerve cells, and basic body-plan characteristics such as a fixed primary body axis.

Websites:

Finnerty Lab Web Site: http://people.bu.edu/jrf3/FinnertyLab/

CnidBase: http://cnidbase.bu.edu/

StellaBase: http://stellabase.org

The Nematostella Web Resource: http://nematostella.org

Courses Taught:

BI301 "Invertebrate Zoology" http://people.bu.edu/jrf3/BI301
BI505 "Evolution and Development" http://people.bu.edu/jrf3/BI505
BI547 "Marine Invertebrates" http://people.bu.edu/jrf3/BI547
CC106 "Biodiversity—Causes & Consequences" http://people.bu.edu/jrf3/CC106



Mazza ME, Pang K, Martindale MQ, Finnerty JR. 2007. Genomic organization, gene structure, and developmental expression of three clustered otx genes in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. J. Exp. Zool. Part B-Mol. Develop. Evol. 308B: 494-506

Putnam NH, Srivastava M, Hellsten U, Dirks B, Chapman J, Salamov A, Terry A, Shapiro H, Lindquist E, Kapitonov VV, Jurka J, Genikhovich G, Grigoriev I, JGI Sequencing Team, Steele RE, Finnerty JR, Technau U, Martindale MQ, Rokhsar DS. 2007. Sea anemone genome reveals the gene repertoire and genomic organization of the eumetazoan ancestor. Science 317:86-94

Reitzel AR, Burton P, Krone C, Finnerty JR. 2007. Comparison of alternate developmental trajectories in the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (Stephenson): embryogenesis, regeneration, and two forms of asexual fission. Invert Biol. 126: 99-112

Reitzel AM, Sullivan JC, Brown BK, Chin DW, Cira EK, Edquist SK, Genco BM, Joseph OC, Kaufman CA, Kovitvongsa K, Muñoz MM, Negri TL, Taffel JR, Zuehlke RT, Finnerty JR. 2007. Ecological and developmental dynamics of a host-parasite system involving a sea anemone and two ctenophores. J. Parasitology 93:1392-1402

Ryan JF, Mazza ME, Pang K, Matus DQ, Baxevanis A, Martindale MQ, Finnerty JR. 2007. Pre-bilaterian origins of the Hox cluster and the Hox code: Evidence from the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. PLoS ONE 2(1):e153

Sullivan JC, Finnerty JR. 2007. Human disease genes in a simple “basal” animal, the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Genome. 50: 689-692

Sullivan JC, Kalaitzidis D, Gilmore TD, Finnerty JR. 2007. Rel Homology domain-containing transcription factors in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis. Dev Genes Evol 217: 63-72

Sullivan JC, Reitzel AM, Finnerty JR. 2007. Upgrades to StellaBase facilitate medical and genetic studies on the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. Nucl. Acids. Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkm941

Sullivan JC, Ryan JF, Mullikin JC, Finnerty JR. 2007. Conserved and novel Wnt clusters in the basal eumetazoan Nematostella vectensis. Dev Genes Evol 217:235-239.

Darling JA, Reitzel AM, Finnerty JR. 2006. Characterization of microsatellite loci in the widely introduced estuarine anemone Nematostella vectensis. Mol Ecol Notes 6(3):803-805.

Reitzel AM, Sullivan JC, Finnerty JR. 2006. Qualitative shift to indirect development in the parasitic sea anemone Edwardsiella lineata. Integr Comp Biol In press.

Ryan JF, Burton PM, Mazza ME, Kwong GK, Mullikin JC, Finnerty JR. 2006. The cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor possessed at least 56 homeoboxes. Evidence from the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. Genome Biol 7(7):R64. [download .pdf]

Sullivan JC, Buscetta KJ, Michener RH, Whitaker JO, Finnerty JR, Kunz. TH. 2006. Models developed from 13C and 15N of skin tissue indicate non-specific habitat use by the big brown bat. Ecoscience 13(1):11-22.

Sullivan JC, Kalaitzidis D, Gilmore TD, Finnerty JR. 2006. Rel Homology domain-containing transcription factors in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis. Dev Genes Evol In press.

Sullivan JC, Reitzel AR, Finnerty JR. 2006. A large percentage of introns in human genes were present early in animal evolution: Evidence from the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. Genome Informatics 17(1):219-229.

Sullivan JC, Ryan JF, Watson JA, Webb J, Mullikin JC, Rokhsar D, Finnerty JR. 2006. StellaBase: The Nematostella vectensis Genomics Database. Nucleic Acids Res 34(Database issue):D495-499.

Finnerty JR. 2005. Did internal transport, rather than directed locomotion, favor the evolution of bilateral symmetry in animals? Bioessays 27(11):1174-1180.

Rieger RM, Ladurner P, Hobmayer B, Martindale MQ, Finnerty JR. 2005. A Clue to the Origin of the Bilateria? Science 307(5708):353c-355c.

Sullivan, J. C., O’Neill, T. and J. R. Finnerty. 2005. Bringing the urban environment into the classroom: learning from an estuarine mesocosom. Urban Habitats. Vol. 3, No. 1. [download .pdf]

Darling, J. D., A. Reitzel, P. Burton, M. Mazza, J.F. Ryan, J. C. Sullivan and J. R. Finnerty. 2005. A rising starlet: the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. BioEssays. 27: 211-221.

Finnerty, J. R., Pang, P., Burton, K., Paulson, D. and Martindale,M. Q. 2004. Homology of Bilateral Symmetry in Cnidaria and Bilateria: Axial expression of Hox genes and Dpp in the sea anemone Nematostella. Science. 304: 1335-1337.

Martindale, M. Q, Pang, K and Finnerty, J. R.. 2004. Investigating the origins of triploblasty: "Mesodermal” gene expression in a diploblastic animal, the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis (phylum, Cnidaria; Class Anthozoa). Development. 131: 2463-2474.

Darling, J. D., Reitzel, A., and J. R. Finnerty. 2004. Population genetics of the sea anemone Nematostella in New England estuaries assessed by AFLP analysis. Molecular Ecology. 13: 2969-2981.

Finnerty, J. R. 2003. The Origins of Axial Patterning in the Metazoa. Int. J. Dev. Biol. 47:523-529.

Rokas A, King N, Finnerty J, Carroll SB. 2003. Conflicting phylogenetic signals at the base of the metazoan tree. Evol Dev. Jul-Aug;5(4):346-59.

Finnerty JR, Paulson D, Burton P, Pang K, Martindale MQ. 2003. Early evolution of a homeobox gene: the parahox gene Gsx in the Cnidaria and the Bilateria. Evol Dev. Jul-Aug;5(4):331-45.

Schneider SQ, Finnerty JR, Martindale MQ. 2003. Protein evolution: structure-function relationships of the oncogene beta-catenin in the evolution of multicellular animals.
J Exp Zoolog Part B Mol Dev Evol. Feb 15;295(1):25-44.

Ryan JF, Finnerty JR. 2003. CnidBase: The Cnidarian Evolutionary Genomics Database. Nucleic Acids Res. Jan 1;31(1):159-63.

Martindale MQ, Finnerty JR, Henry JQ. The Radiata and the evolutionary origins of the bilaterian body plan. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2002 Sep;24(3):358-65.

Finnerty JR, Martindale MQ. 1999. Ancient origins of axial patterning genes: Hox genes and ParaHox genes in the Cnidaria. Evol Dev. Jul-Aug;1(1):16-23.

Questions and comments are always welcome.
Copyright © 1996, The Trustees of Boston University
This document was last modified on January 10, 2008.