Pristionchus pacificus

Pristionchus pacificus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Nematoda
Class: Chromadorea
Order: Rhabditida
Family: Diplogastridae
Genus: Pristionchus
Species: Pristionchus pacificus
Sommer, Carta, Kim & Sternberg, 1996

Pristionchus pacificus is a free-living nematode (roundworm) in the family Diplogastridae. The species has been established as a satellite model organism to Caenorhabditis elegans, with which it shared a common ancestor 200-300 million years ago. The genome of P. pacificus has been fully sequenced,[1] which in combination with other tools for genetic analysis make this species a tractable model in the laboratory, especially for studies of developmental biology.

Mouth dimorphism

Like other species of Pristionchus, but unlike C. elegans and most other free-living nematodes, P. pacificus has a polyphenism in its mouthparts that allows the nematodes to specialize on different food sources.[2] The polyphenism has two forms, one of which (the "stenostomatous" form) is specialized for feeding on bacteria. An alternative ("eurystomatous") form, which responds to deprivation of bacterial food and to crowding by other nematodes, is equipped with two large teeth, enabling predation on other nematodes. These alternative feeding types, which allow the nematodes to respond rapidly to environmental conditions, are specified by a hormonal and genetic cascade during larval development.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Dieterich C, Clifton SW, Schuster LN, Chinwalla A, Delehaunty K, Dinkelacker I, Fulton L, Fulton R, Godfrey J, Minx P, Mitreva M, Roeseler W, Tian H, Witte H, Yang SP, Wilson RK, Sommer RJ (2008). "The Pristionchus pacificus genome provides a unique perspective on nematode lifestyle and parasitism". Nature Genetics. 40 (10): 1193–1198. doi:10.1038/ng.227. PMID 18806794.
  2. ↑ Serobyan V, Ragsdale EJ, Sommer RJ (2014). "Adaptive value of a predatory mouth-form in a dimorphic nematode". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 281 (1791): 20141334. doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.1334.
  3. ↑ Ragsdale, EJ; Müller, MR; Rödelsperger, C; Sommer, RJ (2013). "A developmental switch coupled to the evolution of plasticity acts through a sulfatase". Cell. 155: 922–933. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.09.054. PMID 24209628.


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