Phylogenomics of myzostomids and annelids - causes and consequences of incongruence in phylogenetic analyses

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Christoph Bleidorn
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Evolution, Anthropologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2007 bis 2014
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 50295064

• Erstellungsjahr: 2014

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Annelida is a morphologically and ecologically diverse taxon within the Lophotrochozoa. Its members occupy a wide range of environments and show a variety of different life styles. The phylogeny of this group comprising more than 17,000 species remained controversial for a long time. By using next generation sequencing and phylogenomic analyses of huge data matrices we were able to reach a well-supported and resolved annelid backbone tree. In total, we constructed transcriptome or genome sequencing libraries for 39 different species representing 29 annelid families. We conducted phylogenomic analyses using costumized analyses pipelines including up to 689 genes and approximately 180,000 amino acid positions of up to 80 annelid taxa. Our analyses conclusively show that most annelid diversity is comprised in two reciprocal monophyletic groups, Sedentaria and Errantia, named after the predominant life style of their members. Errantia include Phyllodocida, Eunicida, and Protodriliformia, which is taxon of interstitial polychaetes. Sedentaria comprise most of the polychaete families formerly classified as Canalipalpata or Scolecida, as well as the Clitellata. Several taxa branch as a basal grade outside of this major radiation: Oweniidae, Magelonidae, Chaetopteridae, Sipuncula, and Amphinomida. Oweniidae and Magelonidae form a monophyletic group which constitutes the sister taxon of the remaining annelids. The early splits of annelid phylogeny dates back to the Cambrian and must be older than 520 million years. The new annelid phylogeny shows the variability of annelid body plans, and many instances of simplifications of body plan as adaptations to new life styles can be found. Therefore annelids will be an appropriate model to understand major transitions of the evolution of Bilateria in general.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

• Mitochondrial genome and nuclear sequence data support Myzostomida as part of the annelid radiation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol. 24. 2007, Issue 8, pp. 1690-1701.
  Bleidorn C., Eeckhaut I., Podsiadlowski L., Schult N., McHugh D., Halanych K.M., Milinkovitch M.C., Tiedemann R.
  
• Locomotion and fine structure of parapodia in Myzostoma cirriferum (Myzostomida). Zoomorphology, Vol. 127. 2008, Issue 1, pp 59–68.
  Lanterbecq D., Bleidorn C., Michel S., Eeckhaut I.
  
• Lophotrochozoan relationships and parasites – a snap-shot. Parasite, Vol. 15. 2008, Issue 3, pp. 329-332.
  Bleidorn C.
  
• A PCR survey of hox genes in the myzostomid Myzostoma cirriferum. Development Genes and Evolution, Vol. 219. 2009, Issue 4, pp 211–216.
  Bleidorn C, Lanterbecq D, Eeckhaut I, Tiedemann R.
  
• Mitochondrial genome sequence and gene order of Sipunculus nudus give additional support for an inclusion of Sipuncula into Annelida. BMC Genomics, Vol. 10. 2009: 27.
  Mwinyi A., Meyer A., Bleidorn C., Lieb B., Bartolomaeus T., Podsiadlowski L.
  
• On the phylogenetic position of Myzostomida: can 77 genes do wrong? BMC Evolutionary Biology, Vol. 9.2009:150.
  Bleidorn C., Podsiadlowski L., Eeckhaut I., Hartmann S., Zhong M., Halanych K., Tiedemann R.
  
• Phylogenomic analyses unravel annelid evolution. Nature, Vol. 471. 2011, pp. 95–98.
  Struck T., Paul C., Hill N., Hartmann S., Hösel C., Kube M., Lieb B., Meyer A., Tiedemann R., Purschke G., Bleidorn C.
  
• Deep sequencing of small RNAs confirms an annelid affinity of Myzostomida. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Vol. 64. 2012, Issue 1, pp. 198–203.
  Helm C., Bernhart S., Höner zu Siederdissen C., Nickel B., Bleidorn C.
  
• Exploiting Gene Families for Phylogenomic Analysis of Myzostomid Transcriptome Data. PLoS ONE, Vol. 7. 2012: e29843.
  Hartmann S., Helm C., Nickel B., Meyer M., Struck T.H., Tiedemann R., Selbig J., Bleidorn C.
  
• Analysis of phylogenetic signal in protostomial intron patterns using Mutual Information. Theory in Biosciences, Vol. 132. 2013, Issue 2, pp 93–104.
  Hill N., Leow A., Bleidorn C., Groth D., Tiedemann R., Selbig J., Hartmann S.
  
• Myoanatomy of Myzostoma cirriferum (Annelida, Myzostomida): Implications for the evolution of the annelid body plan. Journal of Morphology, Vol. 274. 2013, Issue 4, pp. 456–466.
  Helm C., Weigert A., Mayer G., Bleidorn C.