Presence of rhodopsin-like proteins in the planarian head

The presence of rhodopsin-like protein was detected in the head of the freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica japonica Ichikawa et Kawakatsu by use of anti-frog-rhodopsin rabbit IgG. Two membrane proteins of molecular weights 65000 and 62000 were separated by sodium-dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and found to react with the anti-rhodopsin IgG. The antibody may be useful for monitoring regeneration of the planarian eye.     

Brain regeneration from pluripotent stem cells in planarian

How can planarians regenerate their brain? Recently we have identified many genes critical for this process. Brain regeneration can be divided into five steps: (1) anterior blastema formation, (2) brain rudiment formation, (3) pattern formation, (4) neural network formation, and (5) functional recovery. Here we will describe the structure and process of regeneration of the planarian brain in the first part, and then introduce genes involved in brain regeneration in the second part. Especially, we will speculate about molecular events during the early steps of brain regeneration in this review. The finding providing the greatest insight thus far is the discovery of the nou-darake (ndk; ‘brains everywhere’ in Japanese) gene, since brain neurons are formed throughout the entire body as a result of loss of function of the ndk gene. This finding provides a clue for elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying brain regeneration. Here we describe the molecular action of the nou-darake gene and propose a new model to explain brain regeneration and restriction in the head region of the planarians.     

On the taxonomic status of a Dugesia species from Buenos Aires (Platyhelminthes: Turbellaria: Tricladida)

The taxonomic and distributional statuses of the freshwater planarians of South America are imperfectly understood, and a comprehensive review is sorely needed. The species known from the vicinity of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was first described by Böhmig (1902) under the name Planaria dubia Borelli, 1895. Subsequent authors (Kenk, 1930, 1974; Cazzaniga & Curino, 1987) have cast doubt on this assignation. Some have assigned it to Dugesia anceps Kenk; Hyman (1959) was inclined to regard the Buenos Aires planarian as a geographical variant of Dugesia sanchezi Hyman. A comparison of D. sanchezi from the mountainous region of central Chile with specimens from Buenos Aires confirms that the Argentinian material is a distinct species.The differences between the two species are subtle. The Argentinian specimens are distinctive in their possession of infranucleate epithelia of the atria, penis, and bursal canal, as well as in their penial structure. In both species, the epithelia of the atria and bursal canal are glandular. Those of D. sanchezi are nucleate and their secretions are cyanophilous. In the Argentinian specimens, these same epithelia are infranucleate; but while the secretion of the bursal canal is indeed cyanophilous, that of the atrium is erythrophilous. The presence, in these same specimens, of cyanophilous glands opening into the penial vesicles, and of erythrophilous glands whose secretions contribute to a viscous plug in the ejaculatory duct, suggests a difference in the physiology of copulation.It is apparent that the Argentinian specimens are distinct from D. sanchezi Hyman, and probably they represent a new species, one to be described in detail elsewhere. In any case, Hyman's (1959) suggestion that D. sanchezi occurs near Buenos Aires is mistaken; so also is Cazzaniga's & Curino's (1987) identification of specimens from Buenos Aires as D. anceps.     

Insights into the origin and distribution of biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic forest hot spot: a statistical phylogeographic study using a low-dispersal organism

The relative importance of the processes that generate and maintain biodiversity is a major and controversial topic in evolutionary biology with large implications for conservation management. The Atlantic Forest of Brazil, one of the world''s richest biodiversity hot spots, is severely damaged by human activities. To formulate an efficient conservation policy, a good understanding of spatial and temporal biodiversity patterns and their underlying evolutionary mechanisms is required. With this aim, we performed a comprehensive phylogeographic study using a low-dispersal organism, the land planarian species Cephaloflexa bergi (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida). Analysing multi-locus DNA sequence variation under the Approximate Bayesian Computation framework, we evaluated two scenarios proposed to explain the diversity of Southern Atlantic Forest (SAF) region. We found that most sampled localities harbour high levels of genetic diversity, with lineages sharing common ancestors that predate the Pleistocene. Remarkably, we detected the molecular hallmark of the isolation-by-distance effect and little evidence of a recent colonization of SAF localities; nevertheless, some populations might result from very recent secondary contacts. We conclude that extant SAF biodiversity originated and has been shaped by complex interactions between ancient geological events and more recent evolutionary processes, whereas Pleistocene climate changes had a minor influence in generating present-day diversity. We also demonstrate that land planarians are an advantageous biological model for making phylogeographic and, particularly, fine-scale evolutionary inferences, and propose appropriate conservation policies.     

涡虫wnt基因的研究进展

涡虫具有强大的再生能力,对其再生机制等方面的研究一直是发育生物学研究的热点问题。Wnt信号途径是动物发育中关键的信号途径之一,对生物的生长发育有着至关重要的作用,近年来国内外对涡虫的wnt基因进行了不断的深入研究。从Wnt信号途径、涡虫wnt基因的种类及命名、涡虫wnt基因的表达及功能几方面对wnt基因在涡虫中的研究进展进行综述。     

中国淡水三角涡虫的核型分析

用空气干燥法对安徽肥东龙泉山、安徽滁州琅?山、云南昆明海源寺龙潭和湖北恩施龙洞河4产地淡水三角涡虫的染色体组进行研究。结果表明:云南昆明海源寺龙潭的涡虫细胞中染色体数目有16条,24条和32条共3种类型,核型公式分别为2x=2n=16=16m,2x=3n=24=24m和2x=4n=32=32m。安徽肥东龙泉山、安徽滁州琅?山和湖北恩施龙洞河的涡虫细胞中染色体数目有16条和24条两种类型,核型公式分别为2x=2n=16=16m和2x=3n=24=24m。染色体组型分析初步鉴定上述4产地淡水三角涡虫均为日本三角涡虫(Dugesia japonica)。另外本文还对淡水三角涡虫的混倍体现象进行了探讨。     

中国淡水三角涡虫染色体组型的研究

采用压片法对不同产地的淡水三角涡虫染色体进行研究,结果表明,湖北省武汉市珞珈山的淡水三角涡虫体细胞中有16条染色体,为二倍体（2n=2x=16m）;江苏省太湖东山岛的淡水三角涡虫体细胞中有24条染色体,为三倍体（2n=3x=24m）;贵州省遵义市凤凰山的淡水三角涡虫体细胞同时存在24条染色体和16条染色体两种分裂相,为混倍体。本文根据组型分析的结果对上述三个产地淡水三角涡虫的分类和染色体倍性进行了初步研究。另外,本研究中还发现涡虫染色体倍性的变化与涡虫生殖方式的转变以及环境温度有一定的联系。     

A small scale expression screen identifies tissue specific markers in the Dugesia japonica strain Pek-1

Freshwater planaria has tremendous capacity to reform the missing part of the body and therefore is considered as one of the most important model organism for regeneration study.At present,Schmidtea mediterranea and Dugesia japonica are the two major species utilized for laboratory manipulations.Dugesia japonica flatworms are widely distributed in the Far East including Cherry Valley region in the north-west area of Beijing,China.We reported here the establishment of an asexual Dugesia japonica strain Pek-1,as a suitable system for regeneration study.Using morphological,karyotypical as well as phyiogenetic analyses,we confirmed that these flatworms indeed belonged to Dugesia japonica.We went on to show that the commonly used in situ probes and immunohistochemistry reagents and protocols were applicable to the Pek-1 strain.Using this strain,we carried out small scale analysis on EST,RNAi and gene expression.We identified 193 unique EST sequences and 65 of them had not been reported in planarian.By RNAi analysis,we showed that 48 genes,when down-regulated individually,had no effect on regeneration.Furthermore,we identified 3 groups of tissue specific expressing genes that were useful for cell lineage analysis.We concluded that the Dugesia japonica Pek-1 swain could be another suitable animal model to regeneration research.