Parasegmental appendage allocation in annelids and arthropods and the homology of parapodia and arthropodia.

ABSTRACT: The new animal phylogeny disrupts the traditional taxon Articulata (uniting arthropods and annelids) and thus calls into question the homology of the body segments and appendages in the two groups. Recent work in the annelid Platynereis dumerilii has shown that although the set of genes involved in body segmentation is similar in the two groups, the body units of annelids correspond to arthropod parasegments not segments. This challenges traditional ideas about the homology of "segmental" organs in annelids and arthropods, including their appendages. Here I use the expression of engrailed, wingless and Distal-less in the arthropod Artemia franciscana to identify the parasegment boundary and the appendage primordia. I show that the early body organization including the appendage primordia i

SUBMITTER: Prpic NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2576247 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature