Molecular Applied to Invertebrate Evolution. Systematics on Tardigrada

Project Information

MAIE. ST

Grant agreement ID: 219773

Project closed

Start date 1 April 2008

End date 30 November 2009

Funded under

• Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Total cost € 201 923,71

EU contribution € 201 923,71

Coordinated by

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Objective

Tardigrada is an invertebrate phylum that comprises more than 959 species of micrometozoans, which size is up to 1.2 mm. Tardigrade are interesting by both, their capacity to survive under unfavourable conditions in a latency state called cryptobiosis, and their controversial phylogenetic position within Invertebrata. Tardigrade research has been restricted to the more basic topics (taxonomy and basic ecological patterns), being biased and incomplete. Remainder information continues to be neglected. As a result of this lack of information, the main objective of this proposal is to progress in knowledge on Tardigrada evolution, using all the information we will be able to generate. One of our main objectives will be to include more taxa (families Hypsibiidae, Calohypsibiidae and Macrobiotidae and, if possible, Microhypsibiidae, Necopinatidae, and Apodibius) and different genetic markers (5.8S rRNA, Histone H3, heavy chain of Myosin, elongation factors-1α and 2, RNA polymerase II, and EST sequences) in phylogenetic analyses. On the other hand, we would like to examine specimens from all genera from class Eutardigrada in Tardigrada collection from University of Copenhagen, to update morphological matrix from Guil´s Thesis with direct observations. Once we have a stable phylogeny, we will study the evolution of different characteristics in tardigrades (reproductive modes, their distribution through different habitats, claws and buccopharyngeal apparatus morphology, substances from cryptobiosis and cryptobiosis as a process itself), using the comparative method in phylogenetic analyses. An increase of knowledge within tardigrades will probably solve, or at least will help, to understand Ecdysozoan evolution, since this is, probably, a key taxa in evolutionary understanding. Furthermore, an innovative field such as biomedicine could use this information in its earliest steps, since they need basic evolutionary knowledge to progress.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences › biological sciences › biological morphology › comparative morphology
• natural sciences › biological sciences › evolutionary biology
• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics › RNA

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Keywords

• Molecular evolution
• Natural sciences
• Systematic zoology
• Zoology

Programme(s)

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

• PEOPLE-2007-2-1.IEF - Marie Curie Action: "Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development"

Call for proposal

FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET

• EU contribution: € 201 923,71
• Address: NORREGADE 10 ; 1165 Kobenhavn ; Denmark
• Region: Danmark › Hovedstaden › Byen København
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: No data