A comprehensive review:Research status and trends of planarianology in China

Planarian is an excellent model for studying several scientific issues,and planarianology has become an active research field in the world.Researchers at home and abroad have conducted a lot of in-depth studies on planarians in various areas.This paper outlined the panorama of planarian research in China and summarized the advances from three aspects of taxonomy,molecular phylogeny and phylogeography,regeneration,tissue homeostasis and immunity as well as toxicology.Furthermore,the current problems and future development direction and tendency of planarian research in China are briefly analyzed and prospected.Importantly,the catalogue of planarians in China is also presented.

Molecular systematics, population genetics and phylogeography on planarians(Platyhelminths: Turbellaria): A brief review of molecular markers

Due to their characteristics, such as powerful regeneration capability, high susceptibility to xenobiotics, wide distribution and weak dispersion ability, planarians are used as ideal test animals in several research fields, and planarianology has become a more and more active subject. This paper reviews the research progress of planarians from the aspects of molecular phylogeny, molecular taxonomy, population genetics and phylogeography, and also summarizes the corresponding molecular markers applied. Moreover, the future direction and tendency in this field is briefly analyzed and prospected.

Genetic diversity,population structure and demographic history of Dugesia japonica in Taihang Mountains

The freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica has become a model organism in regeneration biology and toxicology due to its powerful regeneration capability and highly chemical sensitivity.Nonetheless,little is known about its evolutionary history and demographics.Taihang Mountains is the natural boundary between the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain,and is considered as one of the important priority areas for biodiversity conservation in China.In order to figure out the genetic diversity,population structure and demographic history of D.japonica in Taihang Mountains,a study based on the mitochondrial COI from 116 individuals sampled across 20 populations has been conducted.The results showed that the 116 COI sequences yielded 32 haplotypes,including 8 shared haplotypes and 24 private ones.The overall haplotype diversity(Hd)and nucleotide diversity(π)were 0.920 and 0.083,respectively.Even though the AMOVA results suggested that the genetic variation among populations was significant(FST=0.480,P<0.01),the phylogeny and haplotype network analysis based on 32 haplotypes revealed no obvious phylogeographic pattern.Furthermore,the significantly positive values of neutrality test(Tajima’s D=2.596,P<0.05;Fu’s Fs=2.769,P<0.01)together with the multimodal arrangement of mismatch distribution indicated that D.japonica in Taihang Mountains would have been undergoing population decline.We hope these findings will arouse conservation and management strategy regarding freshwater planarians and contribute to the biodiversity in the long run.