Our lab is currently interested in the characterization
of some aspects of nematode
phylogeny and evolution. Our experimental model is a free-living
species we have found in São Paulo some years ago: Oscheius sp. (n.sp.), isolate
B6/D6. This species is not yet oficially described in the zoological
literature. It will be soon described, with some others of the same genus
by Lynn Carta (currently at CALTECH, Cal. , USA).This nematode
species belong to the same family of Caenorhabditis elegans.
The results obtained thus far about some genes of
Oscheius sp. have shown that, contrary to what we
first thought, Rhabditid nematodes are much more diverse at
the molecular level than at the morphological level.