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Alfonso P, Butković A, Fernández R, Riesgo A, Elena SF. Unveiling the hidden viromes across the animal tree of life: insights from a taxonomic classification pipeline applied to invertebrates of 31 metazoan phyla. mSystems 2024; 9:e0012424. [PMID: 38651902 PMCID: PMC11097642 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00124-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Invertebrates constitute the majority of animal species on Earth, including most disease-causing agents or vectors, with more diverse viromes when compared to vertebrates. Recent advancements in high-throughput sequencing have significantly expanded our understanding of invertebrate viruses, yet this knowledge remains biased toward a few well-studied animal lineages. In this study, we analyze invertebrate DNA and RNA viromes for 31 phyla using 417 publicly available RNA-Seq data sets from diverse environments in the marine-terrestrial and marine-freshwater gradients. This study aims to (i) estimate virome compositions at the family level for the first time across the animal tree of life, including the first exploration of the virome in several phyla, (ii) quantify the diversity of invertebrate viromes and characterize the structure of invertebrate-virus infection networks, and (iii) investigate host phylum and habitat influence on virome differences. Results showed that a set of few viral families of eukaryotes, comprising Retroviridae, Flaviviridae, and several families of giant DNA viruses, were ubiquitous and highly abundant. Nevertheless, some differences emerged between phyla, revealing for instance a less diverse virome in Ctenophora compared to the other animal phyla. Compositional analysis of the viromes showed that the host phylum explained over five times more variance in composition than its habitat. Moreover, significant similarities were observed between the viromes of some phylogenetically related phyla, which could highlight the influence of co-evolution in shaping invertebrate viromes.IMPORTANCEThis study significantly enhances our understanding of the global animal virome by characterizing the viromes of previously unexamined invertebrate lineages from a large number of animal phyla. It showcases the great diversity of viromes within each phylum and investigates the role of habitat shaping animal viral communities. Furthermore, our research identifies dominant virus families in invertebrates and distinguishes phyla with analogous viromes. This study sets the road toward a deeper understanding of the virome across the animal tree of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pau Alfonso
- Instituto de Biología Integrativa de Sistemas (CSIC-Universitat de València), Paterna, València, Spain
| | - Anamarija Butković
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047 Archaeal Virology Unit, Paris, France
| | - Rosa Fernández
- Instituto de Biología Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ana Riesgo
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Santiago F. Elena
- Instituto de Biología Integrativa de Sistemas (CSIC-Universitat de València), Paterna, València, Spain
- The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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Quiroga-Artigas G, Moriel-Carretero M. Storage cell proliferation during somatic growth establishes that tardigrades are not eutelic organisms. Biol Open 2024; 13:bio060299. [PMID: 38411464 PMCID: PMC10924213 DOI: 10.1242/bio.060299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Tardigrades, microscopic ecdysozoans known for extreme environment resilience, were traditionally believed to maintain a constant cell number after completing embryonic development, a phenomenon termed eutely. However, sporadic reports of dividing cells have raised questions about this assumption. In this study, we explored tardigrade post-embryonic cell proliferation using the model species Hypsibius exemplaris. Comparing hatchlings to adults, we observed an increase in the number of storage cells, responsible for nutrient storage. We monitored cell proliferation via 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation, revealing large numbers of EdU+ storage cells during growth, which starvation halted. EdU incorporation associated with molting, a vital post-embryonic development process involving cuticle renewal for further growth. Notably, DNA replication inhibition strongly reduced EdU+ cell numbers and caused molting-related fatalities. Our study is the first to demonstrate using molecular approaches that storage cells actively proliferate during tardigrade post-embryonic development, providing a comprehensive insight into replication events throughout their somatic growth. Additionally, our data underscore the significance of proper DNA replication in tardigrade molting and survival. This work definitely establishes that tardigrades are not eutelic, and offers insights into cell cycle regulation, replication stress, and DNA damage management in these remarkable creatures as genetic manipulation techniques emerge within the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonzalo Quiroga-Artigas
- Centre de Recherche en Biologie cellulaire de Montpellier (CRBM), Université de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 34293 Montpellier CEDEX 05, France
| | - María Moriel-Carretero
- Centre de Recherche en Biologie cellulaire de Montpellier (CRBM), Université de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 34293 Montpellier CEDEX 05, France
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Janssen R, Budd GE. New insights into mesoderm and endoderm development, and the nature of the onychophoran blastopore. Front Zool 2024; 21:2. [PMID: 38267986 PMCID: PMC10809584 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-024-00521-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Early during onychophoran development and prior to the formation of the germ band, a posterior tissue thickening forms the posterior pit. Anterior to this thickening forms a groove, the embryonic slit, that marks the anterior-posterior orientation of the developing embryo. This slit is by some authors considered the blastopore, and thus the origin of the endoderm, while others argue that the posterior pit represents the blastopore. This controversy is of evolutionary significance because if the slit represents the blastopore, then this would support the amphistomy hypothesis that suggests that a slit-like blastopore in the bilaterian ancestor evolved into protostomy and deuterostomy. RESULTS In this paper, we summarize our current knowledge about endoderm and mesoderm development in onychophorans and provide additional data on early endoderm- and mesoderm-determining marker genes such as Blimp, Mox, and the T-box genes. CONCLUSION We come to the conclusion that the endoderm of onychophorans forms prior to the development of the embryonic slit, and thus that the slit is not the primary origin of the endoderm. It is thus unlikely that the embryonic slit represents the blastopore. We suggest instead that the posterior pit indeed represents the lips of the blastopore, and that the embryonic slit (and surrounding tissue) represents a morphologically superficial archenteron-like structure. We conclude further that both endoderm and mesoderm development are under control of conserved gene regulatory networks, and that many of the features found in arthropods including the model Drosophila melanogaster are likely derived.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralf Janssen
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Graham E Budd
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden
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Momeni S, Gąsiorek P, Loeffelholz J, Chtarbanova S, Nelson DR, Fletcher RA, Michalczyk Ł, Pienaar J. Green armoured tardigrades (Echiniscidae: Viridiscus), including a new species from the Southern Nearctic, exemplify problems with tardigrade variability research. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16329. [PMID: 37770488 PMCID: PMC10539286 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40609-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Ranges of tardigrade intraspecific and interspecific variability are not precisely defined, both in terms of morphology and genetics, rendering descriptions of new taxa a cumbersome task. This contribution enhances the morphological and molecular dataset available for the heterotardigrade genus Viridiscus by supplying new information on Southern Nearctic populations of V. perviridis, V. viridianus, and a new species from Tennessee. We demonstrate that, putting aside already well-documented cases of significant variability in chaetotaxy, the dorsal plate sculpturing and other useful diagnostic characters, such as morphology of clavae and pedal platelets, may also be more phenotypically plastic characters at the species level than previously assumed. As a result of our integrative analyses, V. viridianus is redescribed, V. celatus sp. nov. described, and V. clavispinosus designated as nomen inquirendum, and its junior synonymy with regard to V. viridianus suggested. Morphs of three Viridiscus species (V. perviridis, V. viridianus, and V. viridissimus) are depicted, and the implications for general echiniscid taxonomy are drawn. We emphasise that taxonomic conclusions reached solely through morphological or molecular analyses lead to a distorted view on tardigrade α-diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sogol Momeni
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
| | - Piotr Gąsiorek
- Department of Invertebrate Evolution, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Jacob Loeffelholz
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
| | | | - Diane R Nelson
- Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
| | | | - Łukasz Michalczyk
- Department of Invertebrate Evolution, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - Jason Pienaar
- Department of Biological Sciences and the Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
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Smith FW, Game M, Mapalo MA, Chavarria RA, Harrison TR, Janssen R. Developmental and genomic insight into the origin of the tardigrade body plan. Evol Dev 2023. [PMID: 37721221 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
Tardigrada is an ancient lineage of miniaturized animals. As an outgroup of the well-studied Arthropoda and Onychophora, studies of tardigrades hold the potential to reveal important insights into body plan evolution in Panarthropoda. Previous studies have revealed interesting facets of tardigrade development and genomics that suggest that a highly compact body plan is a derived condition of this lineage, rather than it representing an ancestral state of Panarthropoda. This conclusion was based on studies of several species from Eutardigrada. We review these studies and expand on them by analyzing the publicly available genome and transcriptome assemblies of Echiniscus testudo, a representative of Heterotardigrada. These new analyses allow us to phylogenetically reconstruct important features of genome evolution in Tardigrada. We use available data from tardigrades to interrogate several recent models of body plan evolution in Panarthropoda. Although anterior segments of panarthropods are highly diverse in terms of anatomy and development, both within individuals and between species, we conclude that a simple one-to-one alignment of anterior segments across Panarthropoda is the best available model of segmental homology. In addition to providing important insight into body plan diversification within Panarthropoda, we speculate that studies of tardigrades may reveal generalizable pathways to miniaturization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank W Smith
- Biology Department, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
| | - Mandy Game
- Biology Department, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
| | - Marc A Mapalo
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Raul A Chavarria
- Biology Department, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
| | - Taylor R Harrison
- Biology Department, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
| | - Ralf Janssen
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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Kihm JH, Smith FW, Kim S, Rho HS, Zhang X, Liu J, Park TYS. Cambrian lobopodians shed light on the origin of the tardigrade body plan. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2211251120. [PMID: 37399417 PMCID: PMC10334802 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2211251120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Phylum Tardigrada (water bears), well known for their cryptobiosis, includes small invertebrates with four paired limbs and is divided into two classes: Eutardigrada and Heterotardigrada. The evolutionary origin of Tardigrada is known to lie within the lobopodians, which are extinct soft-bodied worms with lobopodous limbs mostly discovered at sites of exceptionally well-preserved fossils. Contrary to their closest relatives, onychophorans and euarthropods, the origin of morphological characters of tardigrades remains unclear, and detailed comparison with the lobopodians has not been well explored. Here, we present detailed morphological comparison between tardigrades and Cambrian lobopodians, with a phylogenetic analysis encompassing most of the lobopodians and three panarthropod phyla. The results indicate that the ancestral tardigrades likely had a Cambrian lobopodian-like morphology and shared most recent ancestry with the luolishaniids. Internal relationships within Tardigrada indicate that the ancestral tardigrade had a vermiform body shape without segmental plates, but possessed cuticular structures surrounding the mouth opening, and lobopodous legs terminating with claws, but without digits. This finding is in contrast to the long-standing stygarctid-like ancestor hypothesis. The highly compact and miniaturized body plan of tardigrades evolved after the tardigrade lineage diverged from an ancient shared ancestor with the luolishaniids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Hoon Kihm
- Division of Earth Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon21990, Korea
| | - Frank W. Smith
- Department of Biology, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL32224
| | - Sanghee Kim
- Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon21990, Korea
| | - Hyun Soo Rho
- East Sea Environment Research Center, East Sea Research Institute, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Uljin, Gyeongsangbuk-do36315, Korea
| | - Xingliang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an710069, China
| | - Jianni Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an710069, China
| | - Tae-Yoon S. Park
- Division of Earth Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon21990, Korea
- Polar Science, University of Science and Technology, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon34113, Korea
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Černý D, Simonoff AL. Statistical evaluation of character support reveals the instability of higher-level dinosaur phylogeny. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9273. [PMID: 37286556 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35784-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The interrelationships of the three major dinosaur clades (Theropoda, Sauropodomorpha, and Ornithischia) have come under increased scrutiny following the recovery of conflicting phylogenies by a large new character matrix and its extensively modified revision. Here, we use tools derived from recent phylogenomic studies to investigate the strength and causes of this conflict. Using maximum likelihood as an overarching framework, we examine the global support for alternative hypotheses as well as the distribution of phylogenetic signal among individual characters in both the original and rescored dataset. We find the three possible ways of resolving the relationships among the main dinosaur lineages (Saurischia, Ornithischiformes, and Ornithoscelida) to be statistically indistinguishable and supported by nearly equal numbers of characters in both matrices. While the changes made to the revised matrix increased the mean phylogenetic signal of individual characters, this amplified rather than reduced their conflict, resulting in greater sensitivity to character removal or coding changes and little overall improvement in the ability to discriminate between alternative topologies. We conclude that early dinosaur relationships are unlikely to be resolved without fundamental changes to both the quality of available datasets and the techniques used to analyze them.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Černý
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
| | - Ashley L Simonoff
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
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