Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Ctenophores are a phylum of non-bilaterian marine (mostly planktonic) animals, characterised by several unique synapomorphies (e.g., comb rows, apical organ). Relationships between and within the nine recognised ctenophore orders are far from understood, notably due to a paucity of phylogenetically informative anatomical characters. Previous attempts to address ctenophore phylogeny using molecular data (18S rRNA) led to poorly resolved trees but demonstrated the paraphyly of the order Cydippida. Here we compiled an updated 18S rRNA data set, notably including a few newly sequenced species representing previously unsampled families (Lampeidae, Euryhamphaeidae), and we constructed an additional more rapidly evolving ITS1 + 5.8S rRNA + ITS2 alignment. These data sets were analysed separately and in combination under a probabilistic framework, using different methods (maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference) and models (e.g., doublet model to accommodate secondary structure; data partitioning). An important lesson from our exploration of these datasets is that the fast-evolving internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions are useful markers for reconstructing high-level relationships within ctenophores. Our results confirm the paraphyly of the order Cydippida (and thus a ``cydippid-like'' ctenophore common ancestor) and suggest that the family Mertensiidae could be the sister group of all other ctenophores. The family Lampeidae (also part of the former ``Cydippida'') is probably the sister group of the order Platyctenida (benthic ctenophores). The order Beroida might not be monophyletic, due to the position of Beroe abyssicola outside of a clade grouping the other Beroe species and members of the ``Cydippida'' family Haeckeliidae. Many relationships (e.g. between Pleurobrachiidae, Beroida, Cestida, Lobata, Thalassocalycida) remain unresolved. Future progress in understanding ctenophore phylogeny will come from the use of additional rapidly evolving markers and improvement of taxonomic sampling.
ISSN: 0944-2006

hal-01544475
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01544475
DOI : 10.1016/j.zool.2014.06.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD BioMed Central
Résumé : International audience
Background: Myosin II (or Myosin Heavy Chain II, MHCII) is a family of molecular motors involved in the contractile activity of animal muscle cells but also in various other cellular processes in non-muscle cells. Previous phylogenetic analyses of bilaterian MHCII genes identified two main clades associated respectively with smooth/non-muscle cells (MHCIIa) and striated muscle cells (MHCIIb). Muscle cells are generally thought to have originated only once in ancient animal history, and decisive insights about their early evolution are expected to come from expression studies of Myosin II genes in the two non-bilaterian phyla that possess muscles, the Cnidaria and Ctenophora. Results: We have uncovered three MHCII paralogues in the ctenophore species Pleurobrachia pileus. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the MHCIIa /MHCIIb duplication is more ancient than the divergence between extant metazoan lineages. The ctenophore MHCIIa gene (PpiMHCIIa) has an expression pattern akin to that of ``stem cell markers'' (Piwi, Vasa...) and is expressed in proliferating cells. We identified two MHCIIb genes that originated from a ctenophore-specific duplication. PpiMHCIIb1 represents the exclusively muscular form of myosin II in ctenophore, while PpiMHCIIb2 is expressed in non-muscle cells of various types. In parallel, our phalloidin staining and TEM observations highlight the structural complexity of ctenophore musculature and emphasize the experimental interest of the ctenophore tentacle root, in which myogenesis is spatially ordered and strikingly similar to striated muscle formation in vertebrates. Conclusion: MHCIIa expression in putative stem cells/proliferating cells probably represents an ancestral trait, while specific involvement of some MHCIIa genes in smooth muscle fibres is a uniquely derived feature of the vertebrates. That one ctenophore MHCIIb paralogue (PpiMHCIIb2) has retained MHCIIa-like expression features furthermore suggests that muscular expression of the other paralogue, PpiMHCIIb1, was the result of neofunctionalisation within the ctenophore lineage, making independent origin of ctenophore muscle cells a likely option.
ISSN: 1471-2148

hal-01544486
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01544486
DOI : 10.1186/1471-2148-12-107

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The subterranean environment is often described as “extreme” and food poor. Laboratory experiments have shown that blind Mexican tetra Astyanax mexicanus (De Filippi, 1853) cavefish are better at finding food in the dark than surface fish. Several morphological and behavioural attributes that could foster this obvious adaptive response to cave environments have been described. Nonetheless, it is currently unknown what young cavefish actually eat in their natural cave environment. Our results from the Pachón cave in México during the dry and rainy season show that fry are efficient predators in their natural cave environment. Their primary food item is aquatic crustaceans. The guts of post-larval, pre-juvenile stage individuals (n=9) contained an average of 17.9 water fleas (Cladocera), copepods, ostracods, and isopods. Thus, the fry in this cave are well-fed. The Pachón cave environment does not appear to be “food poor” for juvenile cavefish. Food regimes change between post-larval and adult stages to become more dependent on partially decomposed material, guano, or detritus from the mud. We discuss the data with regards to our current developmental and genetic understanding of cavefish morphological and behavioural evolution, particularly regarding its enhanced Vibration Attraction Behaviour (VAB).
Subterranean Biology

hal-01432027
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01432027
DOI : 10.3897/subtbiol.21.11046

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Resolving the early diversification of animal lineages has proven difficult, even using genome-scale datasets. Several phylogenomic studies have supported the classical scenario in which sponges (Porifera) are the sister group to all other animals (''Porifera-sister''3 hypothesis), consistent with a single origin of the gut, nerve cells, and muscle cells in the stem lineage of eumetazoans (bilaterians + ctenophores + cnidarians). In contrast, several other studies have recovered an alternative topology in which ctenophores are the sister group to all other animals (including sponges). The ``Ctenophora-sister'' hypothesis implies that eumetazoan-specific traits, such as neurons and muscle cells, either evolved once along the metazoan stem lineage and were then lost in sponges and placozoans or evolved at least twice independently in Ctenophora and in Cnidaria + Bilateria. Here, we report on our reconstruction of deep metazoan relationships using a 1,719-gene dataset with dense taxonomic sampling of non-bilaterian animals that was assembled using a semi-automated procedure, designed to reduce known error sources. Our dataset outperforms previous metazoan gene superalignments in terms of data quality and quantity. Analyses with a best-fitting site-heterogeneous evolutionary model provide strong statistical support for placing sponges as the sister-group to all other metazoans, with ctenophores emerging as the second-earliest branching animal lineage. Only those methodological settings that exacerbated long-branch attraction artifacts yielded Ctenophora-sister. These results show that methodological issues must be carefully addressed to tackle difficult phylogenetic questions and pave the road to a better understanding of how fundamental features of animal body plans have emerged.
ISSN: 0960-9822

hal-01681528
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01681528
DOI : 10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.031

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
As part of an inventory of Carabidae from Tunisia many field surveys were conducted specifically targeting endogean and hypogean environments. This work led to the discovery of two new endemic Trechus species belonging to the species-complex of Trechus fulvus Dejean, 1831. Characters of these species are related to the group of Trechus lallemantii Fairmaire, 1859 that we redefine on the basis of a set of morphological characters.
BULLETIN MENSUEL DE LA SOCIETE LINNEENNE DE LYON

hal-01544482
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01544482

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Signalling through the Wnt family of secreted proteins originated in a common metazoan ancestor and greatly influenced the evolution of animal body plans. In bilaterians, Wnt signalling plays multiple fundamental roles during embryonic development and in adult tissues, notably in axial patterning, neural development and stem cell regulation. Studies in various cnidarian species have particularly highlighted the evolutionarily conserved role of the Wnt/b-catenin pathway in specification and patterning of the primary embryonic axis. However in another key non-bilaterian phylum, Ctenophora, Wnts are not involved in early establishment of the body axis during embryogenesis. We analysed the expression in the adult of the ctenophore Pleurobrachia pileus of 11 orthologues of Wnt signalling genes including all ctenophore Wnt ligands and Fz receptors and several members of the intracellular b-catenin pathway machinery. All genes are strongly expressed around the mouth margin at the oral pole, evoking the Wnt oral centre of cnidarians. This observation is consistent with primary axis polarisation by the Wnts being a universal metazoan feature, secondarily lost in ctenophores during early development but retained in the adult. In addition, local expression of Wnt signalling genes was seen in various anatomical structures of the body including in the locomotory comb rows, where their complex deployment suggests control by the Wnts of local comb polarity. Other important contexts of Wnt involvement which probably evolved before the ctenophore/ cnidarian/bilaterian split include proliferating stem cells and progenitors irrespective of cell types, and developing as well as differentiated neuro-sensory structures.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01544483
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01544483
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0084363

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Magnolia Press
Résumé : International audience
The species belonging to the trechine genus Adriaphaenops Noesske, 1928 are studied. As a result, seven currently known and five newly described species are recognized. Morphological characters of the habitus (especially the shape of head and pronotum) as well as male genitalia are widely used to delimit the species. The following new species are described: A. albanicus sp. nov. (Albania, Shkoder, Boga, Thate Mts.), A. jasminkoi sp. nov. (Bosnia & Hercegovina, Nevesinje, Novakova pecina cave), A. mlejneki sp. nov. (Montenegro, Gornje Stravce, Kucke planine Mts.), A. njegosiensis sp. nov. (Montenegro, Cetinje, Cetinjska pecina cave) and A. rumijaensis sp. nov. (Montenegro, Virpazar, Rumija Mts.). Lectotype for A. stirni (Pretner, 1959) is designated. Data on the distribution and ecology of new taxa, complemented with descriptions of the type localities are provided. Key to the identification of all twelve Adriaphaenops species, as well as a key of all hitherto known aphaenopsoid Trechini genera from Dinarides are also given.
ISSN: 1175-5326

hal-01544473
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01544473
DOI : 10.11646/zootaxa.4205.6.1