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Wada Lab (Animal Phylogeny and Evolution, Evolutionary Developmental Biology)
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The lab investigates, from a developmental perspective, the genetic changes that produced new animal forms.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring the changes that gave rise to new animal forms
The Wada Lab studies how new morphologies, the raw material for natural selection, have been generated over the course of animal evolution.
Focusing on animals such as shelled molluscs and echinoderms, which include sea urchins and starfish, the lab investigates what changes occurred in genetic information and in the process of development.
In some cases, similar forms are built through development involving different genes. The lab considers that this "developmental system drift" may underlie the evolution of new forms.
The lab also works on the phylogeny and classification of reptiles, and on how species are treated in science textbooks.
Key terms
- Developmental system drift
- The phenomenon in which the developmental process and the genes involved can change even when the final form remains the same
- Spiral cleavage
- A pattern of early development during the cleavage stage, seen in animals including molluscs, annelids, and flatworms
- Echinoderms
- A group of animals that includes sea urchins and starfish, with a distinctive body plan of pentaradial symmetry
ResearchResearch themes
Since acquiring multicellular bodies, animals have gained a variety of new structures. Focusing on a phenomenon called "developmental system drift," the lab investigates what changes in genetic information and in the process of development gave rise to new forms such as shells and pentaradial symmetry.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of shell morphology in molluscs
The lab investigates what rewriting of genetic information underlies mollusc shells, and the acquisition of two shells in bivalves. It also works on the relationship with the acquisition of adductor muscles, and on the development of hard tissues in chitons.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of the unique body plan of cephalopods
While most molluscs develop into larvae through spiral cleavage, cephalopods greatly modified their early development and acquired a body plan of their own. The lab seeks to clarify this evolution by comparing it with the mechanism of spiral cleavage.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of pentaradial symmetry in echinoderms
Echinoderms acquired a distinctive body plan with pentaradial symmetry. The lab investigates how the number "five" is built during development, using the starfish Patiria pectinifera and the sand star Astropecten scoparius.
*Illustrative imageDevelopmental system drift in echinoderms
The lab investigates developmental system drift seen in the early development of sea urchins and starfish. Completely different transcription factor interactions are seen in the differentiation of endomesoderm cells, and the lab considers that individual variation in the development of sea urchins in the wild may also reflect a flexibility that contributes to the evolution of form.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Wada Lab consist of faculty, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorHiroshi Wada
- ProfessorMasanao Honda
- Assistant ProfessorYoshiaki Morino
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Invertebrate montage (2022)” File:Jelly cc11.jpg: Paroxysm~commonswiki (uploader), Original by Dan Parsons [1] File:Fromia indica HI09-0187.JPG: FredD, Original by François Michonneau File:Sepioteuthis sepioidea (Caribbean Reef Squid).jpg: Nhobgood File:Drosophila melanogaster Proboscis.jpg: Sanjay Acharya File:Aplysina lacunosa.jpg: Loopy30 (uploader), Original by jbrasher [2] File:Pseudobiceros_hancockanus.jpg: Jnpet File:Sucking leech.jpg: GlebK File:Sea Squirts (Polycarpa aurata) ( ).jpg: Josve05a (uploader), Original by Bernard DUPONT [3] File:SEM image of Milnesium tardigradum in active state - journal.pone.0045682.g001-2.png: Daniel Mietchen (uploader), Original by Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of shell morphology in molluscs: “Vanlig sandskjell - Mya arenaria -2” Bomb4dil / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of the unique body plan of cephalopods: “Sepia común (Sepia officinalis), Parque natural de la Arrábida, Portugal, , DD 62” Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of pentaradial symmetry in echinoderms: “Patiria pectinifera 03” Σ64 / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Developmental system drift in echinoderms: “Sea urchin embryo” Mikenish / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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