CBCB Research Featured on Cover of Royal Society Open Science

A paper authored by researchers in the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB) was recently featured on the cover of Royal Society Open Science.

The Sept. 23 cover highlighted “Relationships within Cladobranchia (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) based on RNA-Seq data: an initial investigation,” which addressed several longstanding issues on the evolutionary history of Cladobranchia, a diverse but understudied group of sea slug mollusks.

In order to fully comprehend the diversity of nudibranchs and the evolution of character traits within Cladobranchia, a solid understanding of evolutionary relationships is necessary, the authors say.

Their data provide a well-supported and almost fully resolved phylogenetic hypothesis for Cladobranchia. Their results support the monophyly of Cladobranchia and the sub-clade Aeolidida, but reject the monophyly of Dendronotida.

CBCB doctoral student Jessica Goodheart is lead author of the paper, with Michael Cummings, associate professor of biology in CBCB, and postdoctoral associate Adam Bazinet listed as co-authors.