Ecology and distribution of the freshwater planarian<i>Schmidtea mediterranea</i>in Tunisia

Harrath, Abdel Halim; Charni, Mohamed; Sluys, Ronald; Zghal, Fathia; Tekaya, Saïda

doi:10.1080/11250000409356577

Cited by 27 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In this assay, S. mediterranea showed robust avoidance of heat 36 (32°C, AI~1), manifested as sharp turns away from the hot quadrants (Figure 1c). This is consistent 37 with a nocifensive behavior, and indeed with the fact that S. mediterranea comes from cool water 38 environments and can die from brief exposure to 35°C ( 29,30 and data not shown).…”

supporting

confidence: 57%

“…27 A fragment of the S. mediterranea TRPA1 gene has been previously used in in situ 28 hybridization experiments as a marker for a subset of differentiated neurons 27 . Starting from it, we 29 cloned a full-length coding sequence for the gene (see methods for details), henceforth referred to as 30 Smed-TRPA1 (Figure 1b). To test whether Smed-TRPA1 mediates the avoidance of noxious heat in 31 S. mediterranea, we designed a two-choice avoidance assay (Extended Data Figure 1) based on 32 the one we previously developed for fruit flies 28 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A core signaling mechanism at the origin of animal nociception

Arenas¹,

Zaharieva²,

Para

et al. 2017

Preprint

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All animals must detect noxious stimuli to initiate protective behavior, but the evolutionary origin of nociceptive systems is not well understood. Here, we show that a remarkably conserved signaling mechanism mediates the detection of noxious stimuli in animals as diverse as flatworms and humans. Planarian flatworms are amongst the simplest bilateral animals with a centralized nervous system, and capable of directed behavior. We demonstrate that noxious heat and irritant chemicals elicit robust escape behaviors in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, and that the conserved ion channel TRPA1 is required for these responses. TRPA1 mutant fruit flies (Drosophila) are also defective in the avoidance of noxious heat [1][2][3] . Unexpectedly, we find that either the planarian or the human TRPA1 can restore noxious heat avoidance to TRPA1 mutant Drosophila, even though neither is directly activated by heat. Instead, our data suggest that TRPA1 activation is mediated by H 2 O 2 /Reactive Oxygen Species, early markers of tissue damage rapidly produced as a result of heat exposure. Together, our data reveal a core function for TRPA1 in noxious heat transduction, demonstrate its conservation from planarians to humans, and imply that human nociceptive systems may share a common ancestry with those of most extant animals, tracing back their origin to a progenitor that lived more than 500 million years ago.

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supporting

confidence: 57%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A core signaling mechanism at the origin of animal nociception

Arenas¹,

Zaharieva²,

Para

et al. 2017

Preprint

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“…Schmidtea mediterranea Benazzi, Baguñà , Ballester, and Del Papa, 1975 is restricted to the western Mediterranean in several scattered populations along the Catalan coast, Menorca, Mallorca, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Tunisia [19][20][21]. There is an asexual strain that occurs only in a few locations, in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, where sexual populations have not been found.…”

Section: Species Genetic Structure: Schmidtea Mediterranea and Dugesimentioning

confidence: 99%

Planarian (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) Diversity and Molecular Markers: A New View of an Old Group

Álvarez‐Presas

Riutort

2014

Diversity

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Planarians are a group of free-living platyhelminths (triclads) best-known largely due to long-standing regeneration and pattern formation research. However, the group's diversity and evolutionary history has been mostly overlooked. A few taxonomists have focused on certain groups, resulting in the description of many species and the establishment of higher-level groups within the Tricladida. However, the scarcity of morphological features precludes inference of phylogenetic relationships among these taxa. The incorporation of molecular markers to study their diversity and phylogenetic relationships has facilitated disentangling many conundrums related to planarians and even allowed their use as phylogeographic model organisms. Here, we present some case examples ranging from delimiting species in an integrative style, and barcoding them, to analysing their evolutionary history on a lower scale to infer processes affecting biodiversity origin, or on a higher scale to understand the genus level or even higher relationships. In many cases, these studies have allowed proposing better classifications and resulted in taxonomical changes. We also explain shortcomings resulting in a lack of resolution or power to apply the most up-to-date data analyses. Next-generation sequencing methodologies may help improve this situation and accelerate their use as model organisms.

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“…The recent finding of the Schmidtea mediterranea Benazzi, Baguñá, Ballester, Puccinelli & Del Papa, 1975, in Tunisia (Harrath et al 2004 Vries 1988a;Sluys et al 1998;Stocchino et al 2002;Sluys 2007). With respect to the Dugesiidae, only the genera Dugesia and Schmidtea are represented in North African freshwaters, with records from only a few scattered sites in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (De Vries 1988a;Deri et al 1999;Charni et al 2004;Harrath et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

African planarians: Morphology and karyology ofDugesia maghrebianasp. n. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from Tunisia

Stocchino

Manconi

Corso

et al. 2009

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Extensive surveys were made of Tunisian freshwaters, yielding freshwater planarians at only one locality in southeastern Tunisia, representing a new species. Dugesia maghrebiana sp. n. is characterized by the presence of the following features: ventral course of the ejaculatory duct, terminal opening of the ejaculatory duct, double diaphragm, symmetrical openings of the oviducts into the bursal canal, and by a typical condition of mixoploidy with a double aneuploidic chromosome complement. The taxonomic position of the new species is discussed in relation to other African and Mediterranean species.

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Ecology and distribution of the freshwater planarianSchmidtea mediterraneain Tunisia

Cited by 27 publications

References 10 publications

A core signaling mechanism at the origin of animal nociception

A core signaling mechanism at the origin of animal nociception

Planarian (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) Diversity and Molecular Markers: A New View of an Old Group

African planarians: Morphology and karyology ofDugesia maghrebianasp. n. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from Tunisia

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