Adhikari Bishwo N, Tomasel Cecilia M, Li Grace, Wall Diana H, Adams Byron J
Department of Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Laboratories, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2010 Nov 1;2010(11):pdb.emo142. doi: 10.1101/pdb.emo142.
The genus Plectus is one of the most widely distributed and common nematode taxa of freshwater and terrestrial habitats in the world, and is of particular interest because of its phylogenetic position relative to the origin of the Secernentean radiation. Plectus murrayi, a bacteria-feeding nematode, inhabits both semi-aquatic and terrestrial biotopes in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MCM), where its distribution is limited by organic carbon and soil moisture. Plectus nematodes from the MCM can survive extreme desiccation, freezing conditions, and other types of stress. Ongoing investigations of the physiological and molecular aspects of the stress biology of P. murrayi, along with the availability of genomic resources, will likely establish this nematode as an excellent invertebrate model system for studies of extreme environmental survival, and may provide a valuable source of genomic resources for comparative studies in other organisms. Moreover, because P. murrayi and Caenorhabditis elegans share a most recent common ancestor with the rest of the Secernentea, and given the ability of P. murrayi to be cultured at lower temperatures compared to C. elegans, P. murrayi could also be an emerging model system for the study of the evolution of environment-sensitive (stress response) alleles in nematodes.
盘咽线虫属是世界上淡水和陆地生境中分布最广、最常见的线虫类群之一，由于其相对于尾感器亚纲辐射起源的系统发育位置而备受关注。默里盘咽线虫是一种以细菌为食的线虫，栖息于南极麦克默多干谷（MCM）的半水生和陆地生物群落中，其分布受有机碳和土壤湿度的限制。来自MCM的盘咽线虫能够在极端干燥、冰冻条件及其他类型的胁迫下存活。对默里盘咽线虫胁迫生物学的生理和分子方面的持续研究，以及基因组资源的可得性，可能会使这种线虫成为研究极端环境生存的优秀无脊椎动物模型系统，并可能为其他生物的比较研究提供宝贵的基因组资源。此外，由于默里盘咽线虫和秀丽隐杆线虫与尾感器亚纲的其他物种有着最近的共同祖先，而且与秀丽隐杆线虫相比，默里盘咽线虫能够在较低温度下培养，因此默里盘咽线虫也可能成为研究线虫中环境敏感（应激反应）等位基因进化的新兴模型系统。
