Cephalopods have recently moved into the research focus due to the growing number of sequenced genomes, molecular tools, and laboratory culture (Albertin & Simakov, 2020)⁠. Genome data now allows us to ask how the many known novelties of cephalopod morphology are reflected in their genomes and gene regulation. A crucial gap in this understanding has been the limited information for the Nautilus, the last survivor of a cephalopod lineage that diverged from the highly derived coleoid clade (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) around 400 million years ago. The publication of Nautilus genomes (in this issue of Molecular Ecology [Huang et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2021])⁠ will help us understand which genetic changes happened when, and ultimately how they contributed to cephalopod evolution.

中文翻译：

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超越“活化石”：比较基因组学最终能揭示新奇吗？

由于测序基因组、分子工具和实验室培养物的数量不断增加，头足类动物最近已成为研究重点（Albertin 和 Simakov，2020 年）⁠。基因组数据现在使我们能够询问头足类动物形态的许多已知新奇是如何反映在它们的基因组和基因调控中的。这种理解的一个关键差距是鹦鹉螺的有限信息，鹦鹉螺是大约 4 亿年前从高度衍生的海鞘进化枝（章鱼、鱿鱼、墨鱼）分化出来的头足类动物谱系的最后一个幸存者。鹦鹉螺基因组的发表（在本期《分子生态学》 [Huang 等人，2021 年；Zhang 等人，2021 年]）⁠将帮助我们了解哪些遗传变化发生在何时，以及它们最终如何促成头足类动物的进化。