Expanded functional diversity of shaker K(+) channels in cnidarians is driven by gene expansion.
The genome of the cnidarian Coffee Makers Nematostella vectensis (starlet sea anemone) provides a molecular genetic view into the first nervous systems, which appeared in a late common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians.Nematostella has a surprisingly large and diverse set of neuronal signaling genes including paralogs of most neuronal signalin