| 1. |
- Janssen, Ralf, 1975-, et al.
(author)
-
Gene expression patterns in an onychophoran reveal that regionalization predates limb segmentation in pan-arthropods
- 2010
-
In: Evolution & Development. - 1520-541X .- 1525-142X. ; 12:4, s. 363-372
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In arthropods, such as Drosophila melanogaster, the leg gap genes homothorax (hth), extradenticle (exd), dachshund (dac), and Distal-less (Dll) regionalize the legs in order to facilitate the subsequent segmentation of the legs. We have isolated homologs of all four leg gap genes from the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis and have studied their expression. We show that leg regionalization takes place in the legs of onychophorans even though they represent simple and nonsegmented appendages. This implies that leg regionalization evolved for a different function and was only later co-opted for a role in leg segmentation. We also show that the leg gap gene patterns in onychophorans (especially of hth and exd) are similar to the patterns in crustaceans and insects, suggesting that this is the plesiomorphic state in arthropods. The reversed hth and exd patterns in chelicerates and myriapods are therefore an apomorphy for this group, the Myriochelata, lending support to the Myriochelata and Tetraconata clades in arthropod phylogeny.
|
|
| 2. |
- Damen, Wim, et al.
(author)
-
Embryonic development and the understanding of the adult body plan in myriapods
- 2009
-
In: Soil Organisms. - 1864-6417. ; 81:3, s. 337-346
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The adult body plan is laid down during embryonic and post-embryonic development of an organism. Here we review two examples for how data on gene expression during embryonic development have changed our understanding of the adult body plan of myriapods. Gene expression studies in the geophilomorph centipede Strigamia maritima (Leach, 1817) have demonstrated that a developmental constraint underlies the always-odd number of leg bearing segments in geophilomorph centipedes. Similarly, data on gene expression in the millipede Glomeris marginata (Villers, 1789) have demonstrated a decoupling of dorsal and ventral segmentation, which provided an explanation for the discrepancy in dorsal and ventral structures in the body of millipedes. Knowledge on the molecular mechanisms underlying embryonic development therefore significantly contributes to understanding morphological features of the adult myriapod body.
|
|
| 3. |
- Damen, Wim, et al.
(author)
-
Pair rule gene orthologs in spider segmentation
- 2005
-
In: Evolution & Development. - 1520-541X .- 1525-142X. ; 7:6, s. 618-628
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The activation of pair rule genes is the first indication of the metameric organization of the Drosophila embryo and thus forms a key step in the segmentation process. There are two classes of pair rule genes in Drosophila: the primary pair rule genes that are directly activated by the maternal and gap genes and the secondary pair rule genes that rely on input from the primary pair rule genes. Here we analyze orthologs of Drosophila primary and secondary pair rule orthologs in the spider Cupiennius salei. The expression patterns of the spider pair rule gene orthologs can be subdivided in three groups: even-skipped and runt-1 expression is in stripes that start at the posterior end of the growth zone and their expression ends before the stripes reach the anterior end of the growth zone, while hairy and pairberry-3 stripes also start at the posterior end, but do not cease in the anterior growth zone. Stripes of odd-paired, odd-skipped-related-1, and sloppy paired are only found in the anterior portion of the growth zone. The various genes thus seem to be active during different phases of segment specification. It is notable that the spider orthologs of the Drosophila primary pair rule genes are active more posterior in the growth zone and thus during earlier phases of segment specification than most orthologs of Drosophila secondary pair rule genes, indicating that parts of the hierarchy might be conserved between flies and spiders. The spider ortholog of the Drosophila pair rule gene fushi tarazu is not expressed in the growth zone, but is expressed in a Hox-like fashion. The segmentation function of fushi tarazu thus appears to be a newly acquired role of the gene in the lineage of the mandibulate arthropods.PMID:16336415
|
|
| 4. |
- Heingård, Miriam, et al.
(author)
-
FoxB, a new and highly conserved key factor in arthropod dorsal-ventral (DV) limb patterning
- 2019
-
In: EvoDevo. - : BMC. - 2041-9139. ; 10
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Forkhead box (Fox) transcription factors evolved early in animal evolution and represent important components of conserved gene regulatory networks (GRNs) during animal development. Most of the researches concerning Fox genes, however, are on vertebrates and only a relatively low number of studies investigate Fox gene function in invertebrates. In addition to this shortcoming, the focus of attention is often restricted to a few well-characterized Fox genes such as FoxA (forkhead), FoxC (crocodile) and FoxQ2. Although arthropods represent the largest and most diverse animal group, most other Fox genes have not been investigated in detail, not even in the arthropod model species Drosophila melanogaster. In a general gene expression pattern screen for panarthropod Fox genes including the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, the pill millipede Glomeris marginata, the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum, and the velvet worm Euperipatoides kanangrensis, we identified a Fox gene with a highly conserved expression pattern along the ventral ectoderm of arthropod and onychophoran limbs. Functional investigation of FoxB in Parasteatoda reveals a hitherto unrecognized important function of FoxB upstream of wingless (wg) and decapentaplegic (dpp) in the GRN orchestrating dorsal-ventral limb patterning.
|
|
| 5. |
- Janssen, Ralf, 1975-, et al.
(author)
-
A comprehensive study of arthropod and onychophoran Fox gene expression patterns
- 2022
-
In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 17:7
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fox genes represent an evolutionary old class of transcription factor encoding genes that evolved in the last common ancestor of fungi and animals. They represent key-components of multiple gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that are essential for embryonic development. Most of our knowledge about the function of Fox genes comes from vertebrate research, and for arthropods the only comprehensive gene expression analysis is that of the fly Drosophila melanogaster. For other arthropods, only selected Fox genes have been investigated. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive gene expression analysis of arthropod Fox genes including representative species of all main groups of arthropods, Pancrustacea, Myriapoda and Chelicerata. We also provide the first comprehensive analysis of Fox gene expression in an onychophoran species. Our data show that many of the Fox genes likely retained their function during panarthropod evolution highlighting their importance in development. Comparison with published data from other groups of animals shows that this high degree of evolutionary conservation often dates back beyond the last common ancestor of Panarthropoda.
|
|
| 6. |
- Janssen, Ralf, et al.
(author)
-
Aspects of dorso-ventral and proximo-distal limb patterning in onychophorans
- 2015
-
In: Evolution & Development. - : Wiley. - 1520-541X .- 1525-142X. ; 17:1, s. 21-33
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Onychophorans (velvet worms) are closely related to the arthropods, but their limb morphology represents a stage before arthropodization (i.e., the segmentation of the limbs). We investigated the expression of onychophoran homologs of genes that are involved in dorso-ventral (DV) and proximo-distal (PD) limb patterning in arthropods. We find that the two onychophoran optomotor-blind (omb) genes, omb-1 and omb-2, are both expressed in conserved patterns in the dorsal ectoderm of the limbs, including the onychophoran antennae (the frontal appendages). Surprisingly, the expression of decapentaplegic (dpp), which acts upstream of omb in Drosophila, is partially reversed in onychophoran limbs compared to its expression in arthropods. A conserved feature of dpp expression in arthropods and onychophorans, however, is the prominent expression of dpp in the tips of developing limbs, which, therefore, may represent the ancestral pattern. The expression patterns of wingless (wg) and H15 are very diverged in onychophorans. The wg gene is only expressed in the limb tips and the single H15 gene is expressed in a few dorsal limb cells, but not on the ventral side. The expression of wg and dpp at the limb tips is one of the three possible alternatives predicted by the topology model of arthropod limb patterning and is, thus, compatible with a conserved function of wg and dpp in the patterning of the PD axis. On the other hand, DV limb gene expression is less conserved, and the specification of ventral fate appears to involve neither wg nor H15 expression.
|
|
| 7. |
- Janssen, Ralf, et al.
(author)
-
Conservation, loss, and redeployment of Wnt ligands in protostomes : implications for understanding the evolution of segment formation
- 2010
-
In: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2148. ; 10, s. 374-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The Wnt genes encode secreted glycoprotein ligands that regulate a wide range of developmental processes, including axis elongation and segmentation. There are thirteen subfamilies of Wnt genes in metazoans and this gene diversity appeared early in animal evolution. The loss of Wnt subfamilies appears to be common in insects, but little is known about the Wnt repertoire in other arthropods, and moreover the expression and function of these genes have only been investigated in a few protostomes outside the relatively Wnt-poor model species Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. To investigate the evolution of this important gene family more broadly in protostomes, we surveyed the Wnt gene diversity in the crustacean Daphnia pulex, the chelicerates Ixodes scapularis and Achaearanea tepidariorum, the myriapod Glomeris marginata and the annelid Platynereis dumerilii. We also characterised Wnt gene expression in the latter three species, and further investigated expression of these genes in the beetle Tribolium castaneum. Results: We found that Daphnia and Platynereis both contain twelve Wnt subfamilies demonstrating that the common ancestors of arthropods, ecdysozoans and protostomes possessed all members of all Wnt subfamilies except Wnt3. Furthermore, although there is striking loss of Wnt genes in insects, other arthropods have maintained greater Wnt gene diversity. The expression of many Wnt genes overlap in segmentally reiterated patterns and in the segment addition zone, and while these patterns can be relatively conserved among arthropods and the annelid, there have also been changes in the expression of some Wnt genes in the course of protostome evolution. Nevertheless, our results strongly support the parasegment as the primary segmental unit in arthropods, and suggest further similarities between segmental and parasegmental regulation by Wnt genes in annelids and arthropods respectively. Conclusions: Despite frequent losses of Wnt gene subfamilies in lineages such as insects, nematodes and leeches, most protostomes have probably maintained much of their ancestral repertoire of twelve Wnt genes. The maintenance of a large set of these ligands could be in part due to their combinatorial activity in various tissues.
|
|
| 8. |
- Janssen, Ralf, et al.
(author)
-
Evidence for Wg-independent tergite boundary formation in the millipede Glomeris marginata
- 2008
-
In: Development, Genes and Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-944X .- 1432-041X. ; 218:7, s. 361-370
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The correlation between dorsal and ventral segmental units in diplopod myriapods is complex and disputed. Recent results with engrailed (en), hedgehog (hh), wingless (wg), and cubitus-interruptus (ci) have shown that the dorsal segments are patterned differently from the ventral segments. Ventrally, gene expression is compatible with the classical autoregulatory loop known from Drosophila to specify the parasegment boundary. In the dorsal segments, however, this Wg/Hh autoregulatory loop cannot be present because the observed gene expression patterns argue against the involvement of Wg signalling. In this paper, we present further evidence against an involvement of Wg signalling in dorsal segmentation and propose a hypothesis about how dorsal segmental boundaries may be controlled in a wg-independent way. We find that (1) the Notum gene, a modulator of the Wg gradient in Drosophila, is not expressed in the dorsal segments. (2) The H15/midline gene, a repressor of Wg action in Drosophila, is not expressed in the dorsal segments, except for future heart tissue. (3) The patched (ptc) gene, which encodes a Hh receptor, is strongly expressed in the dorsal segments, which is incompatible with Wg-Hh autoregulation. The available data suggest that anterior-posterior (AP) boundary formation in dorsal segments could instead rely on Dpp signalling rather than Wg signalling. We present a hypothesis that relies on Hh-mediated activation of Dpp signalling and optomotor-blind (omb) expression to establish the dorsal AP boundary (the future tergite boundary). The proposed mechanism is similar to the mechanism used to establish the AP boundary in Drosophila wings and ventral pleura.
|
|
| 9. |
- Janssen, Ralf, 1975-, et al.
(author)
-
Expression of myriapod pair rule gene orthologs
- 2011
-
In: EvoDevo. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-9139. ; 2:5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundSegmentation is a hallmark of the arthropods; most knowledge about the molecular basis of arthropod segmentation comes from work on the fly Drosophila melanogaster. In this species a hierarchic cascade of segmentation genes subdivides the blastoderm stepwise into single segment wide regions. However, segmentation in the fly is a derived feature since all segments form virtually simultaneously. Conversely, in the vast majority of arthropods the posterior segments form one at a time from a posterior pre-segmental zone. The pair rule genes (PRGs) comprise an important level of the Drosophila segmentation gene cascade and are indeed the first genes that are expressed in typical transverse stripes in the early embryo. Information on expression and function of PRGs outside the insects, however, is scarce.ResultsHere we present the expression of the pair rule gene orthologs in the pill millipede Glomeris marginata (Myriapoda: Diplopoda). We find evidence that these genes are involved in segmentation and that components of the hierarchic interaction of the gene network as found in insects may be conserved. We further provide evidence that segments are formed in a single-segment periodicity rather than in pairs of two like in another myriapod, the centipede Strigamia maritima. Finally we show that decoupling of dorsal and ventral segmentation in Glomeris appears already at the level of the PRGs.ConclusionsAlthough the pair rule gene network is partially conserved among insects and myriapods, some aspects of PRG interaction are, as suggested by expression pattern analysis, convergent, even within the Myriapoda. Conserved expression patterns of PRGs in insects and myriapods, however, may represent ancestral features involved in segmenting the arthropod ancestor.
|
|
| 10. |
- Janssen, Ralf, et al.
(author)
-
Gene expression suggests decoupled dorsal and ventral segmentation in the millipede Glomeris marginata (Myriapoda: Diplopoda)
- 2004
-
In: Developmental Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-1606 .- 1095-564X. ; 268:1, s. 89-104
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Diplopods (millipedes) are known for their irregular body segmentation. Most importantly, the number of dorsal segmental cuticular plates (tergites) does not match the number of ventral structures (e.g., sternites). Controversial theories exist to explain the origin of this so-called diplosegmentation. We have studied the embryology of a representative diplopod, Glomeris marginata, and have analyzed the segmentation genes engrailed (en), hedgehog (hh), cubitus-interruptus (ci), and wingless (wg). We show that dorsal segments can be distinguished from ventral segments. They differ not only in number and developmental history, but also in gene expression patterns. engrailed, hedgehog, and cubitus-interruptus are expressed in both ventral and dorsal segments, but at different intrasegmental locations, whereas wingless is expressed only in the ventral segments, but not in the dorsal segments. Ventrally, the patterns are similar to what has been described from Drosophila and other arthropods, consistent with a conserved role of these genes in establishing parasegment boundaries. On the dorsal side, however, the gene expression patterns are different and inconsistent with a role in boundary formation between segments, but they suggest that these genes might function to establish the tergite borders. Our data suggest a profound and rather complete decoupling of dorsal and ventral segmentation leading to the dorsoventral discrepancies in the number of segmental elements. Based on gene expression, we propose a model that may resolve the hitherto controversial issue of the correlation between dorsal tergites and ventral leg pairs in basal diplopods (e.g., Glomeris) and is suggestive also for derived, ring-forming diplopods (e.g., Juliformia).
|
|
