Caenorhabditis Castelli

Introduction

''Caenorhabditis castelli'' is a species of ''Caenorhabditis'' nematodes, a member of the same genus as the model organism ''Caenorhabditis elegans''. Within this genus, ''C. castelli'' belongs to the ''Drosophilae'' super-group, and ''Angaria'' group. This species is a close relative of ''C. angaria'' ^{/sup> and was referred to as “C. sp. 12” prior to 2014 /sup>. ''C. castelli'' was discovered from rotting '' Micropholis cayennensis'' fruit in the Nouragues Nature Reserve of tropical French Guiana in 2008 /sup>. It is one of the rarest species found in French Guiana /sup>.}

Anatomy

The mean body length of adult female ''C. castelli'' was measured to be 1212.24µm and for adult males, 827.61µm, which is comparable to the average male body size of the model organism ''C. elegans'' (824.74µm) ^/sup>.

Spicule shape

The spicules of ''C. castelli'' males possess a short, stout, evenly curved, complex morphology, similar to other ''Caenorhabditis'' species within the ''Angaria'' and ''Drosophila'' groups /sup>.

Reproduction

Like most species of ''Caenorhabditis'', ''C. castelli'' demonstrates a gonochoristic, or male-female, mode of reproduction, as opposed to ''C. elegans'' and ''C. briggsae'' which demonstrate an androdioecious mode of reproduction, such that populations primarily include self-fertile hermaphrodites with more rare males ^{/sup>. Notably, ''C. castelli'' mates in a spiral mating style, where the male wraps around the female with its posterior end ,7/sup>, a characteristic shared with other species in the ''Angaria'' group /sup>.}

''C. castelli'' males contain larger sperm cells (28.81µm2) on average compared to hermaphroditic ''Caenorhabditis'' species like ''C. elegans'' (19.55µm2), ''C. briggsae'' (18.65µm2) and ''C. tropicalis'' (19.81µm2) ^/sup>.

Hybridization

In the lab, ''C. castelli'' can hybridize with ''C. angaria'' to produce sterile females and slow growing males Hybridization of ''C. castelli'' with ''C. quiockensis'' was attempted, but the two species failed to hybridize /sup>.

References

2. Kiontke KC, Felix MA, Ailion M, Rockman MV, Braendle C, Penigault J-B, Fitch D (2011). “A phylogeny and molecular barcodes for ''Caenorhabditis'', with numerous new species from rotting fruits”. ''BMC Evolutionary Biology.'' 11:339. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-11-339

3. Felix M-A, Braendle C, Cutter AD (2014). “A streamlined system for species diagnosis in ''Caenorhabditis'' (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) with name designations for 15 distinct biological species”. ''PLOS ONE''. 9: e94723. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094723

4. Ferrari C, Salle R, Callemeyn-Torre N, Jovelin R, Cutter AD, Braendle C (2017). “Ephemeral-habitat colonization and neotropical species richness of ''Caenorhabditis'' nematodes”. ''BMC Ecology.'' 17(43). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-017-0150-z

5. Vielle, A., Callemeyn-Torre, N., Gimond, C., Poullet, N., Gray, J. C., Cutter, A. D., & Braendle, C. (2016). “Convergent evolution of sperm gigantism and the developmental origins of Sperm size variability in ''Caenorhabditis'' nematodes”. ''Evolution''. 70(11) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/evo.13043

6. Sudhaus W, Kiontke K, Giblin-Davis RM (2011). “Description of Caenorhabditis angaria n. sp. (Nematoda: Rhabditidae), an associate of sugarcane and palm weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)”. ''Nematology''. 13(1),61-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/138855410X500334

7. Sudhaus W, Kiontke K (2007). “Comparison of the cryptic nematode species ''Caenorhabditis brenneri'' sp. n and ''C. remanei'' (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) with the stem species pattern of the ''Caenorhabditis Elegans'' group. ''Zootaxa''. 1456: 45-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1456.1.2

8. Stevens et al. (2019). “Comparative genomics of 10 new ''Caenorhabditis'' species”. ''Evolution Letters''. 3(2):217-236. https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.110

castelli
Nematodes described in 2014
Fauna of French Guiana

{{Rhabditida-stub