The Rho connected coiled-coil protein kinase (ROCK) plays crucial roles in development across bilaterian creatures. The truth that the Rho/Rock path is needed to initiate epithelial morphogenesis and therefore to determine body plans in bilaterians makes this conserved signaling path key for staring at the molecular mechanisms that could control early growth and development of basally branching metazoans. The objective of this research ended up being to evaluate set up primary aspects of this signaling path appear in sponges, and when present, to research the potential role from the regulatory network within an early branching non-bilaterian species by evaluating ROCK function during Ephydatia muelleri development. Molecular phylogenetic analyses and protein domain predictions revealed the presence of Rho/Rock components in most studied poriferan lineages. Binding assays says both Y-27632 and GSK429286A can handle inhibiting Em-ROCK activity in vitro. Treatment with drugs results in impairment of growth and formation from the basal pinacoderm layer within the developing sponge. In addition, inhibition of Em-Rock prevents the establishment of the functional aquiferous system, including the lack of an osculum. In comparison, no aftereffect of ROCK inhibition was noticed in juvenile sponges that already have a very full-grown and functional aquiferous system. Thus, the Rho/Rock path seems to become required for the correct growth and development of the freshwater sponge, and are likely involved in a variety of cell behaviors (e.g. cell proliferation, cell adhesion and cell motility). Taken together, these data are in line with an ancestral purpose of Rho/Rock signaling in playing roles at the begining of developmental processes and could give a new framework to review the interaction between Wnt signaling and also the Rho/Rock path.