Senior Researcher
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department
Tel. +39 081 5833418
e-mail salvatore.daniello(at)szn.it
Skype: salvatoredaniello
Twitter: @Salv_DANIELLO
Facebook: Salvatore D’Aniello
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=thUw9fAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
ERC sectors - Integrative biology: from genes and genomes to systems (LS2), Cellular, developmental and regenerative biology (LS3)
Settori scientifico-disciplinari - Anatomia comparata e citologia (BIO/06), Genetica (BIO/18)
Lab Members
De Vivo Giacinto
Lazzinnaro Ida
Research interests
I am particularly interested in the study of the evolution of metazoan genomes and development, as well as the genetic events that led to the acquisition of functional innovations, such as genomic duplications, expansion or loss of genes families (gene duplication), and in gene regulatory mechanisms that allowed the explosion and diversification of the animal complexity. My research group works on evolutionary mechanisms that control embryonic and nervous system development.
My areas of expertise are: Evolutionary and Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo), Genetics, Comparative Genomics, Phylogeny, and Evolution.
Main current research lines in the lab are:
1. Evolution of Nitric Oxide signaling in chordates. Since years we are dedicated to understanding in vivo the mechanism(s) of action of Nitric Oxide during the development of the invertebrate chordate amphioxus, Branchiostoma lanceolatum, as a proxy to vertebrates.
2. New fluorescent proteins (FP) from the Oceans and their possible biotechnological application. We are interested in novel fluorescent proteins from the Gulf of Napoli and the Ionian sea. We are collecting natural sequences from the endless source of marine zooplankton with novel unknown properties and that could turn to have useful biotechnological applications.
3. Photoreception in deep-sea cephalopods. Cephalopod and vertebrate eyes are an excellent example of convergent evolution. Considering that the “vision” in octopuses is a major sense for their complex lifestyle, allowing them extraordinary skills in predation and mimicry, we aim to uncover the evolutionary adaptations of vision in littoral versus deep-sea Octopoda by applying multidisciplinary approaches.
4. Animal opsin evolution and phylogenomics. Opsins are the main animal photoreceptive molecules and play an important role in visual systems. In our lab, we study the evolution of opsin genes in the major animal groups using a wide genomic and transcriptomic approach, and up-to-date phylogenetic methods. This lets us explore the diversity of opsins and reconstruct the pattern of opsin loss and duplication during animal evolution, giving insights about the evolution of vision in the first animals.
Selected Publications
De Vivo, G., Crocetta, F., Ferretti, M., Feuda, R.*, & D’Aniello, S.* Duplication and losses of opsin genes in lophotrochozoan evolution. Molecular Biology and Evolution (2023) 40: msad066.
D’Aniello, S.* (2022). Evolution: NO signal at the stem of animal life. Current Biology, 32, R530-R532.
D’Agostino, Y., Frigato, E., Noviello, T.M.R., Toni, M., Frabetti, F., Cigliano, L., Ceccarelli, M., Sordino, P., Cerulo, L., Bertolucci, C.*, & D’Aniello, S*. (2022). Loss of circadian rhythmicity in bdnf knock-out zebrafish larvae. iScience, 25, 104054.
Caccavale, F., Annona, G., Subirana, L., Escriva, H., Bertrand, S., & D'Aniello, S*. (2021). Crosstalk between nitric oxide and retinoic acid pathways is essential for amphioxus pharynx development. eLife, 10, e58295.
Marlétaz, F., Firbas, P.N., Maeso, I., Tena, J.J., Bogdanovic, O., Perry, M., ... & Irimia, M. (2018). Amphioxus functional genomics and the origins of vertebrate gene regulation. Nature, 564(7734), 64-70.
