{"id":54,"date":"2007-11-23T09:52:27","date_gmt":"2007-11-22T20:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2007\/11\/a_worm_but_not_as_we_know_it\/"},"modified":"2007-11-23T09:52:27","modified_gmt":"2007-11-22T20:52:27","slug":"a-worm-but-not-as-we-know-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2007\/11\/a-worm-but-not-as-we-know-it\/","title":{"rendered":"a worm, but not as we know it"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the neat things that have come from advances in molecular biology is our ability to use DNA technology to tease out evolutionary relationships – especially those that aren't immediately obvious (such as the subject of an earlier post<\/a>). Now here's another example – an animal that looks superficially like a worm – but turns out to be most closely related to sea anemones, jellyfish, & other radially-symmetrical animals.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You're probably familiar with the idea that you can classify most animals into two main groups: the radially-symmetrical animals (eg the phylum Cnidaria<\/a>, which includes sea anemones & jellyfish) and the bilaterally-symmetrical animals (including chordates and vertebrates, arthropods, molluscs, and 'worms'). However, there are apparent exceptions, such as the myxozoans, which are tiny endoparasites with a relatively simple structure & no obvious close relations among the other phyla. One of the myxozoans is Buddenbrockia plumatellae<\/em>, which moves like a worm, looks like a worm – but turns out to be most closely related to cnidaria. I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty neat!<\/font><\/p>\n

Cnidarians have a fairly simple body plan <\/a>– 2 layers of 'true' tissue, with a jelly-like layer, the mesoglea, between them (the group includes jellyfish, after all!). They have a simple, sac-like gut with only a single opening, and have a unique feature – nematocysts, or stinging organelles.<\/font><\/p>\n

In comparison, most myxozoans are tiny organisms that live as endoparasites on other aquatic animals. They have bodies that are either sac-like, or something like a plasmodium; with the exception of Buddenbrockia<\/em>, the 'worm', they don't look very much like any other animal group. However, they do form spores with structures that are similar to cnidarians' nematocysts, which suggests a relationship to that group. <\/font><\/p>\n

Buddenbrockia'<\/em>s resemblance to a worm is more than skin-deep. Although it lacks a nervous system and obvious sense organs, once it has left its host (an organism called a bryozoan) it uses four blocks of longitudinal muscle to writhe and wriggle just like a worm. However, analyses of some of its protein-coding genes (Jiminez-Guir et al.<\/em> 2007) suggest that Buddenbrockia<\/em> is actually a cnidarian – and so, by extension, are the other myxozoans. (Other scientists have already shown that this strange 'worm' is closely related to the other tiny members of this phylum.)<\/font><\/p>\n

If you're keen to find out more,  here's a link <\/a>to a post by an excellent science blogger (not Orac, this time!) which goes into the story in a lot more detail.<\/font><\/p>\n

References:<\/font><\/p>\n

E. Jiminez-Guri, H. Philippe, B. Okamura & P. Holland (2007) Buddenbrockia<\/em> is a cnidarian worm. Science<\/em> 317<\/strong>: 116-118<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the neat things that have come from advances in molecular biology is our ability to use DNA technology to tease out evolutionary relationships – especially those that aren't immediately obvious (such as the subject of an earlier post). 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