What do leeches, limpets and worms have in common? Now, a sequenced genome

A team of biologists report in this week's Nature the genome sequences of three organisms that represent more than one-quarter of marine species, including clams, octopuses and the segmented worms, including earthworms. The leech, limpet and polychaete worm all descended from animals that split off more than 500 million years ago and have evolved since, most still utilizing an old larval form, the trochophore – a tiny ciliated free-swimming phase that looks nothing like the adult.

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