Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered significant clues to the evolutionary origins of the nervous system by studying the genome of a sea sponge, a member of a group considered to be among the most ancient of all animals.

The findings are published in the June 6 issue of the journal PLoS ONE, a Public Library of Science journal. The article can be found at http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000506.

"It turns out that sponges, which lack nervous systems, have most of the genetic components of synapses," said Todd Oakley, co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara.