A molecular evolutionary framework for the phylum Nematoda

Mark L. Blaxter (), Paul De Ley, James R. Garey, Leo X. Liu, Patsy Scheldeman, Andy Vierstraete, Jacques R. Vanfleteren, Laura Y. Mackey, Mark Dorris, Linda M. Frisse, J. T. Vida and W. Kelley Thomas
Additional contact information
Mark L. Blaxter: Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh
Paul De Ley: Systematics and Ecology, University of Gent
James R. Garey: University of South Florida
Leo X. Liu: Harvard-Thorndike Laboratory, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Patsy Scheldeman: Systematics and Ecology, University of Gent
Andy Vierstraete: Systematics and Ecology, University of Gent
Jacques R. Vanfleteren: Systematics and Ecology, University of Gent
Laura Y. Mackey: Baylor College of Medicine
Mark Dorris: School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
Linda M. Frisse: School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
J. T. Vida: School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
W. Kelley Thomas: School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri

Nature, 1998, vol. 392, issue 6671, 71-75

Abstract: Abstract Nematodes are important: parasitic nematodes threaten the health of plants, animals and humans on a global scale1,2; interstitial nematodes pervade sediment and soil ecosystems in overwhelming numbers3; and Caenorhabditis elegans is a favourite experimental model system4. A lack of clearly homologous characters and the absence of an informative fossil record have prevented us from deriving a consistent evolutionary framework for the phylum. Here we present a phylogenetic analysis, using 53 small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences from a wide range of nematodes. With this analysis, we can compare animal-parasitic, plant-parasitic and free-living taxa using a common measurement. Our results indicate that convergent morphological evolution may be extensive and that present higher-level classification of the Nematoda will need revision. We identify five major clades within the phylum, all of which include parasitic species. We suggest that animal parasitism arose independently at least four times, and plant parasitism three times. We clarify the relationship of C. elegans to major parasitic groups; this will allow more effective exploitation of our genetic and biological knowledge of this model species.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/32160 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:392:y:1998:i:6671:d:10.1038_32160

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/32160

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().