Oscheius tipulae

  

Contents

  

Rev 03/18/2024

  Classification Biology and Ecology
Morphology and Anatomy Life Cycle
Return to Oscheius Menu Ecosystem Functions and Services
Distribution Management
Return to Rhabditidae Menu Feeding  References
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Classification:

Chromadorea

  Rhabditia

    Rhabditida

      Rhabditoidea

        Rhabditidae

 

        Oscheius tipulae (Lam & Webster, 1971) Sudhaus, 1993

    Synonyms:

Panagrolaimus tipulae Lam & Webster, 1071

Rhabditis (Rhabditella) tipulae Lam & Webster, 1971

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Morphology and Anatomy:

 
Oscheius tipulae (nematodes from Chernonyl contaminated soil
from Tintore et al., 2024

 

Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:

 

 
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Distribution:

A common soil nematode in both temperate and tropical regions of the world.

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Feeding:

  bacterivore, readily cultured on E. coli.

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Biology and Ecology:

Oscheius tipulae has the same hermaphroditic mode of reproduction and is easily cultured in the same conditions as Caenorhabditis elegans. It has been used as a developmental genetic model to study vulva formation. Compared to C. elegans, it has a simpler vulval cell lineage, and a different mechanism of vulval cell fate patterning.

The ease of isolation from soil and the availability of numerous wild isolates of O. tipulae from all over the world facilitate population genetic and microevolutionary studies, especially of the evolution of cell lineage (Dockendorff et al., 2022. Felix, 2006).

In soil, the nematode usually found in the dauer stage (like C. elegans), which raises the question of whether it proliferates in soil. It was originally isolated from larvae of the dipteran insect, Tipula paludosa (European marsh cranefly or leatherjacket), a serious pest of lawn and pasture in Britich Columbia, Canada (Lam and Webster, 1971). However, it is unclear whether the association is entomopathogenic (Felix, 2006).

Oscheius tipulae collected in the highly radioactive environment of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) in Ukraine appear to be free of radiation damage to  their genomes, contrary to what might be expected for organisms living in such an environment. Although chemical mutagen exposure assaya in the lab indicated that there is heritable variation in the tolerance of wild isolates of O. tipulae to various forms of DNA damage, but it is not associated with radiation exposure in the field. Chenobyl isolates of the nematode were not more resistant than strains from undisturbed habitats. (Tintori et al., 2024).  The authors noted that this research does ot suggest that the CEZ is safe, rather that the nematodes are resilient and able to adapt to conditions that might be inhospitable to other species.

Interestingly. 8 species of bacterial-feeding nematodes were isolated at the CEZ site, of which O. tipulae was most amenable to culture and study.  Othere genera thriving in that envoronment were idetified by 18s rDBA analysis as Acrobeloides, Mesorhabditis, Panagrellus, Panagrolaimus, Pristionchus, Pelodera, and Rhabditis

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Life Cycle:

Oscheius tipulae has the same mode of reproduction as C. elegans (self-fertile hermaphrodites and facultative males), and can be cultured and frozen in the same conditions.

The lifecycle is completed in approximately 3 days at 25C, 4 days at 23C and 5�6 days at 20C. Oscheius tipulae develops through four juvenile stages and an alternative dauer stage like C. elegans. The animals are smaller and slower than C. elegans. Eggs are laid at the one-cell stage. (Felix, 2006).

Ecophysiological Parameters:

For Ecophysiological Parameters for this species, click If species level data are not available, click for genus level parameters
 
 
 
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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

 

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Management:

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References:

 

Dockendorff, T.C., Estrem, B., Reed, J., Simmons, J.R. et al. 2022. The nematode Oscheius tipulae as a genetic model for programmed DNA elimination. Current Biology 32: 5083-5098

Felix, M-A. 2006. Oscheius tipulae. WormBook: The Online Review of C. elegans Biology ï¿½https://doi.org/10.1895/wormbook.1.119.1

Lam A.B.Q. , Webster J.M. 1971. Morphology and biology of Panagrolaimus tipulae n. sp. (Panagrolaimidae) and Rhabditis (Rhabditella) tipulae n. sp. (Rhabditidae), from leatherjacket larvae, Tipula paludosa (Diptera: Tipulidae). Nematologica: 17:201-212.

Sudhaus W. 1993. Redescription of Rhabditis (Oscheius) tipulae (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) associated with leatherjackets, larvae of Tipula paludosa (Diptera: Tipulidae). Nematologica:;39:234-239.

Tintori, S.C., Caglar, D., Ortiz, P., Rockman, M.V. 2024. Environmental radiation exposure at Chornobyl has not systematically affected the genomes or chemical mutagen tolerance phenotypes of local worms. PNAS  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2314793121

 

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Copyright  1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: March 18, 2024.

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