Transcription factor evolution in eukaryotes and the assembly of the regulatory toolkit in multicellular lineages

Independent transitions to multicellularity in eukaryotes involved the evolution of complex transcriptional regulation toolkits to control cell differentiation. By using comparative genomics, we show that plants and animals required richer transcriptional machineries compared with other eukaryotic multicellular lineages. We suggest this is due to their orchestrated embryonic development. Moreover, our analysis of transcription factor (TF) expression patterns during the development of animals reveal links between TF evolution, species ontogeny, and the phylotypic stage.