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.     

Dissecting planarian central nervous system regeneration by the expression of neural-specific genes

The planarian central nervous system (CNS) can be used as a model for studying neural regeneration in higher organisms. Despite its simple structure, recent studies have shown that the planarian CNS can be divided into several molecular and functional domains defined by the expression of different neural genes. Remarkably, a whole animal, including the molecularly complex CNS, can regenerate from a small piece of the planarian body. In this study, a collection of neural markers has been used to characterize at the molecular level how the planarian CNS is rebuilt. Planarian CNS is composed of an anterior brain and a pair of ventral nerve cords that are distinct and overlapping structures in the head region. During regeneration, 12 neural markers have been classified as early, mid-regeneration and late expression genes depending on when they are upregulated in the regenerative blastema. Interestingly, the results from this study show that the comparison of the expression patterns of different neural genes supports the view that at day one of regeneration, the new brain appears within the blastema, whereas the pre-existing ventral nerve cords remain in the old tissues. Three stages in planarian CNS regeneration are suggested.     

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.     

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。     

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。     

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.     

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。     

Epigenetic regulation of planarian stem cells by the SET1/MLL family of histone methyltransferases

Chromatin regulation is a fundamental mechanism underlying stem cell pluripotency, differentiation, and the establishment of cell type-specific gene expression profiles. To examine the role of chromatin regulation in stem cells in vivo, we study regeneration in the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. These animals possess a high concentration of pluripotent stem cells, which are capable of restoring any damaged or lost tissues after injury or amputation. Here, we identify the S. mediterranea homologs of the SET1/MLL family of histone methyltransferases and COMPASS and COMPASS-like complex proteins and investigate their role in stem cell function during regeneration. We identified six S. mediterranea homologs of the SET1/MLL family (set1, mll1/2, trr-1, trr-2, mll5–1 and mll5–2), characterized their patterns of expression in the animal, and examined their function by RNAi. All members of this family are expressed in the stem cell population and differentiated tissues. We show that set1, mll1/2, trr-1, and mll5–2 are required for regeneration and that set1, trr-1 and mll5–2 play roles in the regulation of mitosis. Most notably, knockdown of the planarian set1 homolog leads to stem cell depletion. A subset of planarian homologs of COMPASS and COMPASS-like complex proteins are also expressed in stem cells and implicated in regeneration, but the knockdown phenotypes suggest that some complex members also function in other aspects of planarian biology. This work characterizes the function of the SET1/MLL family in the context of planarian regeneration and provides insight into the role of these enzymes in adult stem cell regulation in vivo.