From evolutionary developmental biology to genomics: towards a genome map of the free-living nematode Pristionchus pacificus
Abstract Case studies in evolutionary developmental biology have concentrated on various ontogenetic processes in arthropods, nematodes and chordates. In nematodes, one well-studied process is the formation of the vulva. Cellular, genetic and molecular comparative studies of vulva development between Pristionchus pacificus and Caenorhabditis elegans indicated the existence of multiple changes during the evolution of this process. Besides macro-evolutionary alterations, the study of more closely related species of the genus Pristionchus showed that several aspects of vulva development differ at the micro-evolutionary level. To facilitate a more detailed mechanistic understanding of the molecular changes involved in vulval evolution, a genetic linkage map of P. pacificus has been generated, which allows both, macro- and micro-evolutionary processes to be studied in greater details.
AbstractWe sequenced the complete mitogenome of Marenzelleria neglecta, a non-indigenous polychaete of the Baltic Sea originating from North America. This is the first complete mitogenome made avai...