03-06-2019
A new research shows that mites and ticks are related
A genomic study has reconstructed the evolutionary history of chelicerates, a group of more than 110,000 arthropods including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks. They have found, for the first time, genomic evidence that suggests that mites and ticks do not constitute two distant lineages, in fact they are part of the same evolutionary line. This makes them the most diverse group of chelicers, changing our perspective on biodiversity.
Arthropods, or animals with articulated legs, comprise most of the animal biodiversity. They can pollinate (such as bees) how to destroy our crops (lobsters), they are major food components (shrimps and crabs), or vectors of serious diseases such as malaria or Lyme disease (mosquitoes and ticks).
Arthropods are ancient and fossils show that more than 500 million years ago they exist. Its evolutionary secret, which is reflected in its exceptional diversity of species, remains unknown. To clarify that it makes the arthropods such a successful group, the parentheses between the different arthropod groups must first be understood.
Professor Davide Pisani of the University of Bristol, co-author of this study, said in a statement: "The finding that mites and ticks are a single evolutionary lineage is really important for our understanding of how biodiversity is distributed within the chelicerats ".
"Spiders, with more than 48,000 described species, have been considered as the line of chelicerates with a greater biodiversity, but more than 42,000 mites and 12,000 ticks have been described. Therefore, if the two groups form a single evolutionary entity in beads of two distant, are more diverse than the spiders ".
Greg Edgecombe of the Natural History Museum of London added: "Due to its anatomical similarities, it has long been suspected that mites and ticks formed a natural evolutionary group, historically called Acari However, not all anatomists share it, and genomic data has never supported this idea. "
The main author, Jesús Lozano Fernández, of the University of Bristol and currently a member of the Institute for Biodiversity Research, said: "Spiders are iconic terrestrial animals that have always been part of the collective imaginary and the folklore, represented mythological and cultural symbols, at the same time as being objects of internal fear or admiration "
"Spiders have been considered as the most diverse cheery group, but our research shows that the Acari group is in fact bigger."
In order to reach its conclusions, the researchers have used a number of representatives of mites and ticks almost equivalent (10 and 11 species, respectively), the most complete sample on the genomic scale for this group so far.
Lozano-Fernández added: "Regardless of the method used, our results converge in the same response: mites and ticks form a natural group. We have also found that the group of arachnids only colonized the earth once and not many times as other previous studies had suggested. Evolutionary trees such as those we have built provide us with the background information we need to interpret the processes of genomic change.
"Our genealogical tree can now be used as a basis for comparative genomic studies where problems of biomedical importance and relevance in agriculture are addressed, such as the identification of genomic changes that sustained the evolution of parasitic ticks they feed on blood from ancestors that did not feed themselves on blood. "
IMAGE
There is a great diversity of mites (shown in these two examples), and ticks are their closest relatives. Image credit: David Walter
Reference article
'Increasing species sampling in chelicerate genomic-scale datasets provides support for monophyly of Acari and Arachnida' by J. Lozano-Fernandez, AR Tanner, M. Giacomelli, R. Carton, J. Vinther, GD Edgecombe & D. Pisani in Nature Communications
Author:
Dr. Jesus Lozano Fernandez
Juan de la Cierva Fellow
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio_UB)
University of Barcelona
Arthropods, or animals with articulated legs, comprise most of the animal biodiversity. They can pollinate (such as bees) how to destroy our crops (lobsters), they are major food components (shrimps and crabs), or vectors of serious diseases such as malaria or Lyme disease (mosquitoes and ticks).
Arthropods are ancient and fossils show that more than 500 million years ago they exist. Its evolutionary secret, which is reflected in its exceptional diversity of species, remains unknown. To clarify that it makes the arthropods such a successful group, the parentheses between the different arthropod groups must first be understood.
Professor Davide Pisani of the University of Bristol, co-author of this study, said in a statement: "The finding that mites and ticks are a single evolutionary lineage is really important for our understanding of how biodiversity is distributed within the chelicerats ".
"Spiders, with more than 48,000 described species, have been considered as the line of chelicerates with a greater biodiversity, but more than 42,000 mites and 12,000 ticks have been described. Therefore, if the two groups form a single evolutionary entity in beads of two distant, are more diverse than the spiders ".
Greg Edgecombe of the Natural History Museum of London added: "Due to its anatomical similarities, it has long been suspected that mites and ticks formed a natural evolutionary group, historically called Acari However, not all anatomists share it, and genomic data has never supported this idea. "
The main author, Jesús Lozano Fernández, of the University of Bristol and currently a member of the Institute for Biodiversity Research, said: "Spiders are iconic terrestrial animals that have always been part of the collective imaginary and the folklore, represented mythological and cultural symbols, at the same time as being objects of internal fear or admiration "
"Spiders have been considered as the most diverse cheery group, but our research shows that the Acari group is in fact bigger."
In order to reach its conclusions, the researchers have used a number of representatives of mites and ticks almost equivalent (10 and 11 species, respectively), the most complete sample on the genomic scale for this group so far.
Lozano-Fernández added: "Regardless of the method used, our results converge in the same response: mites and ticks form a natural group. We have also found that the group of arachnids only colonized the earth once and not many times as other previous studies had suggested. Evolutionary trees such as those we have built provide us with the background information we need to interpret the processes of genomic change.
"Our genealogical tree can now be used as a basis for comparative genomic studies where problems of biomedical importance and relevance in agriculture are addressed, such as the identification of genomic changes that sustained the evolution of parasitic ticks they feed on blood from ancestors that did not feed themselves on blood. "
IMAGE
There is a great diversity of mites (shown in these two examples), and ticks are their closest relatives. Image credit: David Walter
Reference article
'Increasing species sampling in chelicerate genomic-scale datasets provides support for monophyly of Acari and Arachnida' by J. Lozano-Fernandez, AR Tanner, M. Giacomelli, R. Carton, J. Vinther, GD Edgecombe & D. Pisani in Nature Communications
Author:
Dr. Jesus Lozano Fernandez
Juan de la Cierva Fellow
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio_UB)
University of Barcelona