Mity model: Tetranychus urticae, a candidate for chelicerate model organism

  1. Grbic, M. 1
  2. Khila, A. 1
  3. Lee, K.-Z. 1
  4. Bjelica, A. 1
  5. Grbic, V. 1
  6. Whistlecraft, J. 4
  7. Verdon, L. 4
  8. Navajas, M. 3
  9. Nagy, L. 2
  1. 1 University of Western Ontario
    info

    University of Western Ontario

    London, Canadá

    ROR https://ror.org/02grkyz14

  2. 2 University of Arizona
    info

    University of Arizona

    Tucson, Estados Unidos

    ROR https://ror.org/03m2x1q45

  3. 3 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
    info

    Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique

    París, Francia

  4. 4 Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food, London, Ont., Canada
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Revista:
BioEssays

ISSN: 0265-9247

Año de publicación: 2007

Volumen: 29

Número: 5

Páginas: 489-496

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1002/BIES.20564 PMID: 17450600 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-34248570664 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Otras publicaciones en: BioEssays

Resumen

Chelicerates (scorpions, horseshoe crabs, spiders, mites and ticks) are the second largest group of arthropods and are of immense importance for fundamental and applied science. They occupy a basal phylogenetic position within the phylum Arthropoda, and are of crucial significance for understanding the evolution of various arthropod lineages. Chelicerates are vectors of human diseases, such as ticks, and major agricultural pests, such as spider mites, thus this group is also of importance for both medicine and agriculture. The developmental genetics of chelicerates is poorly understood and a challenge for the future progress for many aspects of chelicerate biology is the development of a model organism for this group. Toward this end, we are developing a chelicerate genetic model: the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae. T. urticae has the smallest genome of any arthropod determined so far (75 Mbp, 60% of the size of the Drosophila genome), undergoes rapid development and is easy to maintain in the laboratory. These features make T. urticae a promising reference organism for the economically important, poorly studied and species-rich chelicerate lineage. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.