SPP 1174:  Deep Metazoan Phylogeny

• Subject Area: Biology
• Term: from 2005 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5472147

The Priority Programme combines resources and expertise to clarify important aspects of the phylogeny of large metazoan taxa and to infer processes of molecular evolution and of the historical evolution of phenotypes. In focus are the phylogenetic relationships between animal taxa traditionally classified as phyla . Past publications based on morphological or molecular data or combining both are extremely inconsistent, partly because data quality was not evaluated, partly because processes of evolution are not well understood. The Ecdysozoa hypothesis, for example, combines nematods and arthropods in a single clade, contradicting the Articulata , a clade composed of annelids and arthropods. The first is mainly supported by molecular data of unpublished signal to noise ratio, the second is based on morphological observations. The contradictions are currently unsettling biologists whose research depends on correct phylogenies, teachers, authors of textbooks.
The Priority Programme brings together experts for different animal groups, morphologists, paleontologists, molecular systematists, and computer scientists. Combining the knowledge of these different specialists will enable us to compile a data set of unprecedented high quality and quantity.
Synergistic effects will improve greatly personal training as well as scientific achievements. Special emphasis is laid on the evaluation of data quality. The Priority Programme will contribute to the growth of gene banks and promote the implementation of a new morphological data bank. Systematics and biodiversity research have suffered a substantial loss of manpower during the past 30 years, not only in Germany but also on a global scale. The Priority Programme will help to educate a new generation of scientists familiar with modern tools of phylogeny inference.
This particular Priority Programme differs from others in the necessity for a strict coordination of single projects. The goal can only be reached when all data can be interlocked for a final total evidence analysis.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Austria

Projects

• A phylogenomic approach to resolve deep phylogenetic incongruences among Phylum Porifera (Applicants Morgenstern, Burkhard ;  Wörheide, Gert )
• Architecture of the Central Nervous System in Nemathelminthes (Applicant Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas )
• Cleavage patterns and gastrulation as complex characters for phylogenetic inferences in the Metazoa: the early development of Rotifera (II) and Kinorhyncha (Applicant Scholtz, Gerhard )
• Comparative mitochondrial genomics of Bilateria (Applicant Podsiadlowski, Lars )
• Coordination of the Programme "Deep Metazoan Phylogeny" (Applicant von Haeseler, Arndt )
• Coordination of the Programme "Deep Metazoan Phylogeny" (Applicants von Haeseler, Arndt ;  Wägele, Johann Wolfgang )
• Deep Metazoan Phylogeny: Diploblastic Animals (Applicant Schierwater, Bernd )
• Deep Metazoan Phylogeny: Hexapoda/Pterygota (Applicant Hadrys, Heike )
• Development and architecture of the nervous system in Cephalocarida and Mystacocarida - Testing the monophyly of Crustacea (Applicant Richter, Stefan )
• Elucidation of phylogenetic processes during early evolution of basal Metazoa through the phylogenetic study of both, selected molecular marker genes and EST data (Applicant Wiens, Matthias P. )
• Evaluation of the Ecdysozoa versus Articulata hypothesis on the basis of complete mitochondrial genome data (Applicant Scholtz, Gerhard )
• Genome structure characters as new markers for deep metazoan phylogeny, as exemplified for annelids. (Applicants Hartmann, Stefanie ;  Tiedemann, Ph.D., Ralph )
• Lives morphologies and body development of Cambrian nemathelminths and arthropods, a testtool for phylogeny analyses and hypotheses (Applicant Waloßek, Dieter )
• Molecular and structural characterization of photoreceptor cells in Annelida in order to utilise the photosensitive system as comparative character for inferring metazoan interrelationships (Applicant Hausen, Harald )
• Molecular and structural characterization of photoreceptor cells in Annelida in order to utilise the photosensitive system as comparative character for inferring metazoan interrelationships (Applicant Purschke, Günter )
• Molecular and structural characterization of photoreceptor cells in Lophotrochozoa in order to utilise the photosensitive system as comparative character for inferring metazoan interrelationships. II. Eyes and photoreceptors of Mollusca and Platyhelminthes (Applicants Arendt, Detlev ;  Hausen, Harald ;  Purschke, Günter )
• Molecular Evolution and Deep Phylogeny of Deuterostomia (Applicant Schlegel, Martin )
• Molecular Morphology: Deep Phylogeny Using RNA Structures and Related Markers (Applicant Stadler, Peter Florian )
• Molecular Morphology of the Metazoa, with Special Reference to the Lophotrochozoa (MOLMORPH) (Applicant Haszprunar, Gerhard )
• Molecular phylogenetic analyses of crustaceans (Applicant Wägele, Johann Wolfgang )
• Molecular phylogenetic analysis of basal lineages of the Bilateria (Applicant Hausdorf, Bernhard )
• Molecular Phylogeny of the Arthropoda and the "Ecdysozoa" Hypothesis (Applicant Burmester, Thorsten )
• MorphDBase - Morphological Description Data Base (Applicant Vogt, Lars )
• Phylogenetic position of Annelida and possible subordinatied annelid taxa (e.g. Sipuncula and Myzostomida) within Lophotrochozoa based on molecular data (Applicant Struck, Torsten H. )
• Phylogenomics of myzostomids and annelids - causes and consequences of incongruence in phylogenetic analyses (Applicant Bleidorn, Christoph )
• Phylogenomics of Spiralia: Syndermata, Gnathifera and the Platyzoa hypothesis (Applicant Hankeln, Thomas )
• Phylogenomics of worm-like lophotrochozoans and platyzoans (Nemertea, Gastrotricha, Gnathostomulida) (Applicant Struck, Torsten H. )
• Phylogeny and evolution of Monoplacophora and basal Mollusca reconstructed by morphological and molecular data sets (Applicant Schrödl, Michael )
• Phylogeny of molluscs and their relatives based on new molecular data (Applicant Lieb, Bernhard )
• Pinning down the phylogenetic position of Chaetognatha: architecture of their nervous system in comparison to potential outgroups (Applicant Harzsch, Steffen )
• Refined Methods for Inference of Metazoan Phylogeny Using Mitochondrial Genome Arrangement Data (Applicant Schierwater, Bernd )
• Refined Methods for Inference of Metazoan Phylogeny Using Mitochondrial Genome Arrangement Data (Applicants Schierwater, Bernd ;  Stadler, Peter Florian )
• Resolving deep molluscan relationships and their relatives (Applicant Lieb, Bernhard )
• The ancestry of deuterostome photoreceptors - molecular and structural investigations in echinoids and enteropneusts (Applicant Hausen, Harald )
• The "Atelocerata" - A vanishing hypothesis? (Applicant Misof, Ph.D., Bernhard )
• Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies of the ontogeny of the nervous system and the mesoderm in Enteropneusta and Pterobranchia in order to elucidate deuterostome evolution. (Applicant Stach, Thomas )
• Ultrastructural studies into nephridial development and embryonic coelom fate in arthropods III: reconstructionof ancestral states (Applicant Bartolomaeus, Thomas )
• Understanding character polarity in Deep Metazoan phylogeny - Phylogenomics of Myzostomids (Applicant Tiedemann, Ph.D., Ralph )
• Using Cerebral Characters to Reconstruct Deep Metazoan Phylogeny: Comparative neuroarchitecture of the brain in annelids, molluscs and arthropods analyzed with confocal laser scanning microscopy (Applicant Lösel, Rudolf )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Johann Wolfgang Wägele