(Press-News.org) Caenorhabditis are usually thought of as soil nematodes, happily living in compost heaps. The famous (scientifically speaking) Caenorhabditis elegans has provided a wealth of information about developmental processes and cell death. These tiny worms have been at the forefront of three Nobel prizes and have even been sent into space! However all other known Caenorhabditis species are as distantly related to C. elegans as mouse is to man. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology looked at the relationship between the ten known species of Caenorhabditis and found another 16. In the process it was discovered that these particular nematodes prefer to live in rotting fruit and vegetation rather than soil.
A team of researchers, led by Dr Karin Kiontke, from New York University, and Marie-Anne Félix, from the Institute Jacques Monod in Paris, delved into rotting vegetation collected from around the world. They found Caenorhabditis worms in samples from temperate and tropical climes across four continents, but only in those which contained rotting fruit or vegetable material. Some species, like C. elegans, were found in many locations, but others in only one.
'Worms' were separated according to physical characteristics such as color, tail length, and position of reproductive organs. True separation between species was determined by the animals being unable to mate or to produce viable offspring, and the species were molecular barcoded using the ITS2 regions of DNA.
Dr Kiontke explained, "Using our new data we were able to generate an evolutionary tree for all 26 species which showed that the history of Caenorhabditis has had many evolutionary reversals and convergences. For example, the spicules (the male reproductive organs) increased in length after the first species diverged from the Caenorhabditis ancestor, but decreased again in a more modern ancestor of five present-day species. Also, it is clear that hermaphroditism has evolved independently three times within the Caenorhabditis genus. The newly discovered species will be an important resource for future research and will doubtless teach us much more about the evolution of genomes, reproductive modes and development. Although we still have not yet found the elusive close relative for C. elegans we now know where to search."
###
Media Contact
Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Tel: 44-20-3192-2370
Email: hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
Notes to Editors
1. A phylogeny and molecular barcodes for Caenorhabditis, with numerous new species from rotting fruits
Karin C Kiontke, Marie-Anne Félix, Michael Ailion, Matthew V Rockman, Christian Braendle, Jean-Baptiste Pénigault and David HA Fitch
BMC Evolutionary Biology (in press)
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.
2. BMC Evolutionary Biology is an Open Access, peer-reviewed online journal that considers articles on all aspects of molecular and non-molecular evolution of all organisms, as well as phylogenetics and palaeontology.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
Molecular barcodes – identification of 16 new species of Caenorhabditis
2011-11-21
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Carbon cycling was much smaller during last ice age than in today's climate
2011-11-21
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the most important greenhouse gases and the increase of its abundance in the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning is the main cause of future global warming. In past times, during the transition between an ice age and a warm period, atmospheric CO2 concentrations changed by some 100 parts per million (ppm) – from an ice age value of 180 ppm to about 280 ppm during warm periods.
Scientists can reconstruct these changes in the atmospheric carbon stock using direct measurements of atmospheric CO2 trapped in air bubbles in the depth ...
Discovery of new muscle repair gene
2011-11-21
An international team of researchers from Leeds, London and Berlin has discovered more about the function of muscle stem cells, thanks to next-generation DNA sequencing techniques.
The work, which was co-led from the University of Leeds' School of Medicine and the Charité, Berlin, is published this week in the journal Nature Genetics.
The researchers investigated several families whose children suffered from a progressive muscle disease. The children developed severe weakness of the body's muscles and the diaphragm - the main breathing muscle - making them dependent ...
Nerve cells key to making sense of our senses
2011-11-21
VIDEO:
Click on the video above to see how the dots create a sense of moving forward straight ahead, to the right, and to the left.
Click here for more information.
The human brain is bombarded with a cacophony of information from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin. Now a team of scientists at the University of Rochester, Washington University in St. Louis, and Baylor College of Medicine has unraveled how the brain manages to process those complex, rapidly changing, and often ...
Effects of climate change to further degrade fisheries resources: UBC researchers
2011-11-21
A new study led by University of British Columbia researchers reveals how the effect of climate change can further impact the economic viability of current fisheries practices.
"Fisheries are already providing fewer fish and making less money than they could if we curbed overfishing," says Rashid Sumaila, principal investigator of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC and lead author of the study. "We could be earning interest, but instead we're fishing away the capital. Climate change is likely to cause more losses unless we choose to act."
Partly supported ...
Scripps research scientists develop brand new class of small molecules through innovative chemistry
2011-11-21
JUPITER, FL -- Inspired by natural products, scientists on the Florida campus of the Scripps Research Institute have created a new class of small molecules with the potential to serve as a rich foundation for drug discovery.
Combining the power of synthetic chemistry with some advanced screening technologies, the new approach could eventually expand by millions the number of provocative synthetic compounds available to explore as potential drug candidates. This approach overcomes substantial molecular limitations associated with state-of-the-art approaches in small molecule ...
Houston Attorney Daniel Horowitz Presented on the Dangers of Hazing to the University of Texas' Silver Spurs
2011-11-21
Attorney Daniel D. Horowitz III, a partner at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Friend in Houston, Texas, recently spoke to students at the University of Texas (UT) on the dangers of hazing in the Greek community.
As a member of the board of directors of UT's Silver Spurs Alumni Association, Mr. Horowitz returns every semester to UT to speak with the incoming and active members of the Silver Spurs. "The purpose of the meeting is to discuss hazing, alcohol consumption, individual responsibility and accountability, as well as becoming a leader of the ...
Monroe NC Hotel Offers Close Lodging to the Wingate University Choirs Christmas Concert
2011-11-21
Super 8 Monroe North Carolina Hotel offers convenient lodging to alumni, parents and guests attending the annual Wingate University Choirs Christmas Concert: Behold the Star. The event will take place at 7:30pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at the 554-seat Hannah Covington McGee Theater in The George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center. Admission is free.
Conducted by Dr. Kenney Potter, director, Behold the Star will include four university choirs: University Singers, Chamber Choir, Women's Choir and Men's Choir. Their holiday concert will feature many seasonal favorites ...
Johnny Rotten's graffiti: The new heritage?
2011-11-21
Archaeologists typically record and analyse the traces of past human activities. The caves of Lascaux in southern France are celebrated as a place where early humans made their marks on cave walls. The cave is now protected, and an exact replica is what the public now encounter.
But a new study by archaeologists has been examining marks made much more recently -- graffiti by the Sex Pistols now discovered on the walls of the flat the punk group rented in London in the mid-1970s. The authors of a paper in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity argue that both are pieces ...
Targeted antibacterial proteins may offer antibiotic alternative
2011-11-21
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- A novel antibacterial protein targeted against E. coli O157:H7 may offer a way to prevent or treat serious food-borne bacterial infections, as demonstrated in a study published in the December issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Results in an animal model of E. coli infection showed that the orally administered protein, developed by AvidBiotics, Inc., could prevent or treat E. coli O157:H7-induced diarrhea and intestinal inflammation when administered either on a preventative basis or after the onset of diarrhea. Moreover, animals ...
Spartanburg Hotel Near Gaffney Premium Outlets Offers Close Lodging to After-Thanksgiving Sale Shoppers
2011-11-21
Hampton Inn Spartanburg Hotel - North I-85, offers close lodging to holiday shoppers attending the Gaffney Premium Outlets After-Thanksgiving Sale. Their biggest sale of the year, the event will take place, Friday, November 25 - Sunday, November 27, 2011 and will include:
- Outstanding holiday savings
- Extended holiday hours
- Midnight Madness -- most stores open their doors at midnight right after Thanksgiving
- Select stores opening at 10 and 11pm on Thanksgiving Day
- Holiday Concert Series Presented by Coca-Cola on Sunday, November 27
Gaffney Premium Outlets ...