On the origin of nematodes: Phylogenetic tree of world's most numerous group of animals

It is relatively straightforward to define species-specific DNA barcodes on the basis of this data set that allows for the detection of nematodes in soil with an unprecedented accuracy.

Nematodes are the world's most numerous group of animals with two to 20 million individuals, usually smaller than one millimeter, per square meter of soil. These nematodes include a minority that can cause diseases to humans, animals or plants. Unfortunately these pathogenic organisms share a strong resemblance to each other as well as to useful nematode species. This makes finding out which nematodes are present in a soil of a given area an extremely time-consuming and a specialist task.

The international group of scientists studying nematode DNA selected a specific element of the DNA that codes for a major part of ribosomes, parts of the cells of both plants and animals responsible for the production of proteins. Containing 1,700 building blocks, this piece of DNA allowed scientists to distinguish between most nematode species. In fact the resolution of the data set appeared to be much better than scientists had ever expected.

Based on the DNA-analyses, the scientists could make some major steps forward towards to the reconstruction of the evolution of this successful group of animals, including the ones that -- because of their feeding behaviour -- cause major damage to lifestock and crops. Our results provided sufficient information for distinguishing a number of plant-parasitic nematodes. The new technology has already been used to study tens of thousands of soil samples. Faster and more accurate than traditional microscopic analyses, the technology has been an immediate success.