Molecular Evolution and Deep Phylogeny of Deuterostomia

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The radiation of Deuterostomia in the Cambrian resulted in three major lineages, the Echinodermata, Hemichordata, and Chordata. The phylogenetic relationships between and within these subgroups have been a matter of long and controversial debate. The molecular approach applied until now did not contribute significantly to the problem. This leaves a deep gap in our understanding of metazoan relationships as well as in the evolution of fundamental morphological characters such as the chorda dorsalis and the gut with gill slits. Within the special research programme Deep Metazoan Phylogeny we aim to contribute to the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships of the major deuterostome lineages using the sequence and gene order evolution of the histone gene cluster as a molecular tool. Overall, most data are lacking in hemichordates. Thus, we will mainly focus on this group, extending the histone data set by still missing small and large ribosomal RNA sequences. Furthermore, Espressed Sequence Tags will be isolated for future analyses of additional phylogenetically informative genes.