Comparative genomics of the tardigrades Hypsibius dujardini and Ramazzottius varieornatus.

ABSTRACT: Tardigrada, a phylum of meiofaunal organisms, have been at the center of discussions of the evolution of Metazoa, the biology of survival in extreme environments, and the role of horizontal gene transfer in animal evolution. Tardigrada are placed as sisters to Arthropoda and Onychophora (velvet worms) in the superphylum Panarthropoda by morphological analyses, but many molecular phylogenies fail to recover this relationship. This tension between molecular and morphological understanding may be very revealing of the mode and patterns of evolution of major groups. Limnoterrestrial tardigrades display extreme cryptobiotic abilities, including anhydrobiosis and cryobiosis, as do bdelloid rotifers, nematodes, and other animals of the water film. These extremophile behaviors challenge understand

SUBMITTER: Yoshida Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5531438 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature