Evolution of the nervous system in nematodes - a comparative immunohistochemical approach

线虫是一个种类丰富的分类群，尽管教科书上有一些简化，但在形态上是多样化的。它们的神经系统在少数模式物种中得到了详细的研究，如秀丽线虫和蛔虫。来自更广泛的分类抽样的零星数据表明，神经系统的精细结构，特别是大脑的结构(环状神经堆周围的体细胞分布)和躯干中的正交模式的存在可能会有所不同。由于神经系统的结构被认为是支持该分类群内系统发育关系的一个重要特征，所以这对于与环状神经纲中密切相关的分类群的比较具有重要意义。了解线虫和环神经虫祖先的神经系统结构对于讨论蜕皮虫进化的脊椎虫也很重要。重建神经系统拓扑结构的理想工具是免疫组织化学方法和激光共聚焦扫描显微镜相结合。这种方法已经成功地用于其他不同的类群，但在线虫物种中很少使用。我们建议将一些线虫物种与一组神经元标记物(FMR家族、5-羟色胺、三种不同形式的微管蛋白)结合肌肉系统标记物(鬼臼蛋白)和细胞核标记物(DAPI)进行比较，以产生一组涵盖线虫中广泛分类群样本的可比数据。在物种收集和确定方面，我们的目标是与德国、比利时和西班牙的科学家合作。

Nematodes are a taxon rich in species and, despite some textbook simplifications, morphologically diverse. Their nervous system has been investigated in detail in few model species such as Caenorhabditis elegans and Ascaris species. Sporadic data from a broader taxonomical sampling indicate that the fine structure of the nervous system, in particular the architecture of the brain (the distribution of somata around a ring neuropile) and the presence of orthogonal patterns in the trunk may vary. This is of importance for comparisons with closely related taxa within Cycloneuralia, because the structure of the nervous system is considered to be an important character supporting phylogenetic relationships within this taxon. Knowing the structure of the nervous system in the ancestor of nematodes and cycloneuralians is also important for the discussion of evolutive szenaria among Ecdysozoa. Ideal tools to reconstruct the topology of nervous systems are immunohistochemical methods in combination with confocal laser scanning microscopy. Such methods have been used successfully in diverse other taxa, but very little in nematode species. We suggest to compare a number of nematode species with a set of neuronal markers (FMRFamides, serotonin, three different forms of tubulin) in combination with markers for the musculature (phalloidin) and nuclei (DAPI) to produce a comparable set of data covering a broad taxon sampling among nematodes. For species collection and determination we aim to collaborate with scientists from Germany, Belgium and Spain.