Drosophila melanogaster has been utilized to model human brain diseases. In most of these invertebrate transgenic models, some aspects of human disease are reproduced. Although investigation of rodent models has been of significant impact, invertebrate models offer a wide variety of experimental tools that can potentially address some of the outstanding questions underlying neurological disease...

Gene number can be considered a pragmatic measure of biological complexity, but reliable data is scarce. Estimates for vertebrates are 50-100,000 genes per haploid genome, whereas invertebrate estimates fall below 25,000. We wished to test the hypothesis that the origin of vertebrates coincided with extensive gene creation. A prediction is that gene number will differ sharply between invertebra...

Invertebrates are sensitive to a broad spectrum of light that ranges from UV to red. Color sensitivity in the UV plays an important role in foraging, navigation, and mate selection in both flying and terrestrial invertebrate animals. Here, we show that a single amino acid polymorphism is responsible for invertebrate UV vision. This residue (UV: lysine vs blue:asparagine or glutamate) correspond...

Although, as their names imply, estrogen receptors [ERs] and estrogen-related receptors [ERRs] are related transcription factors, their evolutionary relationships to each other are not fully understood. To elucidate the origins and evolution of ERs and ERRs, we searched for their orthologs in the recently sequenced genome of Trichoplax, the simplest known animal, and in the genomes of three lop...

The occurrence and distribution of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) are summarized in invertebrate species with special attention to annelids, mollusks, and arthropods in this review. Furthermore, the role of PACAP is highlighted in physiological and behavioral processes of oligochaete (Lumbricus), gastropods (Helix, Lymnaea), insect (Drosophila), as well as malacostra...

Abstract Anthropogenic salinisation of inland waters worldwide causes diverse social, economic and ecological impacts, including shifts in the composition biological communities. I used published data on occurrence aquatic invertebrate taxa relation to salinity develop a novel Invertebrate-Based Salinity Index (IBSI) suitable for purposes such as indicating impact anthropogenic charting faunal ...

BACKGROUND Research on echinoderms in Mexico began in the late nineteenth century. We present a dataset that includes the taxonomic and geographic information of irregular echinoids from Mexico, housed in four collections: 1) Colección Nacional de Equinodermos "Ma. Elena Caso Muñoz" from the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (ICML), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); 2) In...

In this review, several glycosaminoglycan analogs obtained from different marine invertebrate are reported. The structure, biological activity and mechanism of action of these unique molecules are detailed reviewed and exemplified by experiments in vitro and in vivo. Among the glycans studied are low-sulfated heparin-like polymers from ascidians, containing significant anticoagulant activity an...