SlugAtlas, a histological and 3D online resource of the land slugs Deroceras laeve and Ambigolimax valentianus

PLoS One. 2024 Oct 22;19(10):e0312407. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312407. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Due to their distinctive anatomical characteristics, land slugs are appealing research subjects from a variety of angles, including stem cell biology, regeneration, embryonic development, allometry, and neurophysiology. Here we present SlugAtlas, an anatomical and histological online resource of the land slugs Deroceras laeve and Ambigolimax valentianus. The atlas is composed of series of histological sections on the horizontal, sagittal, and transversal planes for both species with 3D viewing tools of their major organs. The atlas was used in this work for a comparative analysis of the major organs and tissues of these two species. We provide a comprehensive histological description of them and an explanation of novel findings of unique features of their anatomy. For D. laeve, we additionally studied its ability for degrowth and regrowth, a feature that characterizes animals with high regeneration potential and obtained initial results on the study of the regeneration of its tail. SlugAtlas is a resource that is also built to accommodate future growth and, along with the experimental techniques that we have developed, will provide the foundation for research projects in a variety of biological domains.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Gastropoda* / anatomy & histology
  • Gastropoda* / growth & development
  • Gastropoda* / physiology
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Regeneration

Grants and funding

This work received funds form Dirección General del Personal Académico (DGAPA-UNAM, https://dgapa.unam.mx) (IN211322 awarded to A.V.-E. and IT101423 awarded to R.A.) and from Consejo Nacional de Humanidades Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT, https://conahcyt.mx) (CBF2023-2024-834 awarded to A.V.-E. and FORDECYT-PRONACES/1561826 awarded to R.A.). The following authors received fellowships or support from CONAHCYT: C.L.-F. (PhD), D.A.B.-D. (MSc), J.T.-B. (Ayudante SNI, PhD), S.C.-M. (Posdoctoral), W.G.-S. (Posdoctoral), and R.P.-D. (Posdoctoral). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.