Extreme Mitogenomic Variation in Natural Populations of Chaetognaths.

The extent of within-species genetic variation across the diversity of animal life is an underexplored problem in ecology and evolution. Although neutral genetic variation should scale positively with population size, mitochondrial diversity levels are believed to show little variation across animal species. Here, we report an unprecedented case of extreme mitochondrial diversity within natural populations of two morphospecies of chaetognaths (arrow worms).

High level of structural polymorphism driven by mobile elements in the Hox genomic region of the Chaetognath Spadella cephaloptera.

Little is known about the relationships between genome polymorphism, mobile element dynamics, and population size among animal populations. The chaetognath species Spadella cephaloptera offers a unique perspective to examine this issue because they display a high level of genetic polymorphism at the population level. Here, we have investigated in detail the extent of nucleotide and structural polymorphism in a region harboring Hox1 and several coding genes and presumptive functional elements.

Careful with understudied phyla: the case of chaetognath.

Background: A recent study by Barthélémy et al. described a set of ribosomal protein (RP) genes extracted from a collection of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of the chaetognath (arrow worm) Spadella cephaloptera. Three main conclusions were drawn in this paper.

Chaetognath transcriptome reveals ancestral and unique features among bilaterians.

Background: The chaetognaths (arrow worms) have puzzled zoologists for years because of their astonishing morphological and developmental characteristics. Despite their deuterostome-like development, phylogenomic studies recently positioned the chaetognath phylum in protostomes, most likely in an early branching. This key phylogenetic position and the peculiar characteristics of chaetognaths prompted further investigation of their genomic features.

Restricted expression of a median Hox gene in the central nervous system of chaetognaths.

Hox genes encode a set of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that regulate anterior-posterior patterning. Here we report the first developmental expression of a Hox gene from Chaetognatha. These metazoans have been shown recently to be part of the protostome group of bilaterians.

Comparative analysis of Brachyury T-domains, with the characterization of two new sponge sequences, from a hexactinellid and a calcisponge.

The Brachyury family of T-domain containing transcription factor has been recently the subject of a number of Evo-Devo studies, with expression data obtained from a wide sampling of eumetazans, pointing to a possible conserved role in the formation of the blastopore and the extremities of the digestive tract. Here we present a comparative analysis of Brachyury sequences at the metazoan scale, using published data and two new sponge Brachyury sequences. Alignment features, gene phylogeny, and the evolution of variable positions within the T-domain are discussed in the light of available data about functional constraints on the residues.

Identification of chaetognaths as protostomes is supported by the analysis of their mitochondrial genome.

Determining the phylogenetic position of enigmatic phyla such as Chaetognatha is a longstanding challenge for biologists. Chaetognaths (or arrow worms) are small, bilaterally symmetrical metazoans. In the past decades, their relationships within the metazoans have been strongly debated because of embryological and morphological features shared with the two main branches of Bilateria: the deuterostomes and protostomes.

Phylogeny and evolution of calcareous sponges: monophyly of calcinea and calcaronea, high level of morphological homoplasy, and the primitive nature of axial symmetry.

Because calcareous sponges are triggering renewed interest with respect to basal metazoan evolution, a phylogenetic framework of their internal relationships is needed to clarify the evolutionary history of key morphological characters. Morphological variation was scored at the suprageneric level within Calcispongia, but little phylogenetic information could be retrieved from morphological characters. For the main subdivision of Calcispongia, the analysis of morphological data weakly supports a classification based upon cytological and embryological characters (Calcinea/Calcaronea) rather than the older classification scheme based upon the aquiferous system (Homocoela/Heterocoela).

Hox gene survey in the chaetognath Spadella cephaloptera: evolutionary implications.

We present the isolation of six Hox genes in the chaetognath Spadella cephaloptera. We identified one member of the paralogy group 3, four median genes and a mosaic gene that shares features of both median and posterior classes ( SceMedPost). Several hypotheses may account for the presence of a mosaic Hox gene in this animal.

Haemocytes accumulate collagen transcripts during Drosophila melanogaster metamorphosis.

We report a direct examination of the expression of one collagen gene (DCg1) during Drosophila melanogaster metamorphosis, based on data from in situ hybridization. The transcripts of this gene, thought to encode a basement membrane type IV collagen, are mainly accumulated during ecdysis in wandering haemocytes. Our results demonstrate that haemocytes contribute to extracellular matrix deposition and seem to perform a fibroblastic function during Drosophila development.