Zoology - Worming Into The Origin of Bilaterians
Zoology - Worming Into The Origin of Bilaterians
Zoology - Worming Into The Origin of Bilaterians
Dispatches
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Xenacoelomorphs, a group of worms with simple body organization, have been proposed to represent the
first offshoot of bilaterians. A new study shows that they might instead belong to the deuterostomes, just
as echinoderms and vertebrates.
The nature of the last common ancestor of by Herve Philippe, Max Telford and insects, molluscs, annelids, flatworms)
all bilaterally symmetrical animals — the colleagues [1] in Current Biology brings and the deuterostomes (including
urbilaterian — is one of the key questions new elements to support this latter tree, in vertebrates, tunicates, sea urchins and
in zoology, partly because it reflects on particular a thorough evaluation of sea stars). This reclassification implied that
the origin of the key organ systems that methodological bias that can affect seemingly simple lineages may have
make us who we are. There are two phylogenetics reconstruction — such as originated through simplification and
opposing views of what this ancestor may the famous long-branch attraction. They secondary character losses from a more
have been like — either it was a rather conclude that xenacoelomorphs are the complex coelom-bearing urbilaterian
simple organism or a fairly complex one. sister-group of a clade called ancestor [3].
And, a lot of the debate surrounding this ‘Ambulacraria’, which includes sea stars, Then, in the late nineties, a study [4]
dichotomy revolves around the sea urchins and acorn worms. pointed out that a neglected lineage of
phylogenetic position of a handful of The idea that the urbilaterian was a flatworms — the acoels — might have
worms — the xenacoelomorphs. Two simple organism without a body cavity represented a sister-group to both
alternative positions were successively (coelom) reminiscent of the planula larva of protostomes and deuterostomes. This
proposed over the years: one suggests some cnidarians was mentioned a long reignited the debate concerning the nature
that this group of morphologically simple time ago, for instance in the famous of the bilaterian ancestor and propelled
worms is the sister-group to all other zoology textbook of Libbie Hyman [2]. At these overlooked animals to the front
bilaterians. This branching would mean this time, morphologically simple animals, stage of animal evolution. Acoel flatworms
that the bilaterian ancestor was a rather such as nematode roundworms and indeed show a very simple planula-like
unsophisticated organism. Alternatively, flatworms, were considered as early organization and do not possess
other researchers have proposed that branches of the animal tree of life. structures that are found in other
these xenacoelomorphs instead are a Morphological cladistics and molecular bilaterians, such as a coelomic cavity,
derived offshoot of deuterostomes, one of phylogeny then helped redefine our excretory organs, or nerve chords
the two main clades of bilaterians, which understanding of animal evolution by (Figure 1A). All bilaterians that are not
mean that their simplicity derives from splitting all bilaterian animals into two main acoels were dubbed ‘Nephrozoa’
secondary character loss. A new study clades: the protostomes (including (highlighting the presence of an excretory
Current Biology 29, R568–R591, June 17, 2019 ª 2019 Elsevier Ltd. R577
Current Biology
Dispatches
Dispatches
support for Xenambulacraria rather than for comes close to capturing the entire 6. Jondelius, U., Ruiz-Trillo, I., Baguna, J., and
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Xenoturbella is a deuterostome that eats
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how often they use each of them. To limit contrast, remain the major bottleneck of
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9. Ruiz-Trillo, I., and Paps, J. (2016).
actually improves the support for framework but remain difficult to deploy on Acoelomorpha: earliest branching bilaterians
Xenambulacraria. Altogether, these the broadest datasets due to or deuterostomes? Org. Divers. Evol. 16,
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detailed analyses provide evidence that computational limits. Recent attempts
carefully mitigating known phylogenetic have been made at developing 10. Ruiz-Trillo, I., Riutort, M., Littlewood, D.T.,
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the deuterostome clade, even though it is a positions, gene gain, losses and
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Vrijenhoek, R.C. (2016). New deep-sea
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xenambulacrarians and chordates, but where more refined explicit models would Xenacoelomorpha. Nature 530, 94–97.
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