Molecular Genealogy of Some Nematode Taxa as Based on Cytochrome c and Globin Amino Acid Sequences

Abstract

We have begun to reconstruct the ancient history of the nematode phylum based on cytochrome c and globin amino acid sequences. The data suggest that the nematode ancestor diverged from a line leading to mammals about 1 billion years ago and that the most recent common ancestor of the extant species Caenorhabditis elegans, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, Ascaris suum, and Pseudoterranova decipiens lived about 550 MY ago. The rhabditids and strongylids emerged as one offshoot of this ancestor, the ascarids as another. Rhabditids and strongylids diverged some 400 MY ago, whereas the genera Trichostrongylus and Nippostrongylus diverged slightly over 200 MY ago. A gene duplication event in the strongylid branch is predicted to have occurred around 250-335 MY ago. There are two globin genes in Nippostrongylus, expressed in anatomically distinct compartments (body and cuticle), and the single sequence from Trichostrongylus is most like the Nippostrongylus body globin gene. A strikingly different duplication event occurred within the same period in the line leading to the extant ascarid genera, creating a single polypeptide containing two globin domains. The genera Ascaris and Pseudoterranova diverged some 150-250 MY ago. Interestingly, the second globin repeat evolved at a faster rate in both species examined. This is possibly related to the acquisition of an unusual carboxyterminal extension, composed of alternating positively and negatively charged residues, that is necessary for the assembly of several monomers into the native polymeric molecules.