Morphology and molecular phylogeny of four Frontonia species from Turkey (Protista, Ciliophora)

In this study, Frontonia leucas, Frontonia acuminata, Frontonia angusta, and Frontonia anatolica species isolated from aquatic environments of Van in Turkey were investigated in detail using morphological, morphometrical, and molecular methods. Although there were minor differences, the Frontonia populations were morphologically similar to the other previously reported populations of the 4 species. Frontonia leucas differed from the other populations by the following combination of characters: about 200 somatic and only 3 vestibular kineties, and a single micronucleus. The Turkish population of Frontonia acuminata had just 4 vestibular kineties and the large micronucleus was always located to the anterior of the carrot-shaped macronucleus. The ratio of the oral apparey size to the cell size of Frontonia angusta in this study was about 18%, with 3 vestibular kineties, and 1 excretory pore. Phylogenetic trees based on small-subunit rRNA gene sequences were constructed using Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood. Frontonia anatolica was more closely related to Apofrontonia dohrni and Paramecium spp. than to its congeners, while F. acuminata, like F. terricola, was also more closely related to the family Stokesiidae. The results indicated that Frontonia is a non-monophyletic genus consisting of 3 groups. We presented the systematic relationships of the genera and families of Peniculida with new data of genus Frontonia herein.

Download Full-text

Description of Eurystomatella sinica n. gen., n. sp., with establishment of a new family Eurystomatellidae n. fam. (Protista, Ciliophora, Scuticociliatia) and analyses of its phylogeny inferred from sequences of the small-subunit rRNA gene

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY ◽

10.1099/ijs.0.009621-0 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 460-468 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Miao Miao ◽

Yangang Wang ◽

Weibo Song ◽

John C. Clamp ◽

Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid

Keyword(s):

New Genus ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Sister Group ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Small Subunit Rrna ◽

New Family ◽

Small Subunit Rrna Gene ◽

The Family ◽

Great Divergence

Recently, an undescribed marine ciliate was isolated from China. Investigation of its morphology and infraciliature revealed it as an undescribed species representing a new genus, Eurystomatella n. gen., the type of the new family Eurystomatellidae n. fam. The new family is defined by close-set, apically positioned oral membranelles and a dominant buccal field that is surrounded by an almost completely circular paroral membrane. The new genus is defined by having a small oral membranelle 1 (M1), bipartite M2 and well-developed M3, a body surface faintly sculptured with a silverline system in a quadrangular, reticulate pattern and a cytostome located at the anterior third of a large buccal field. The type species of the new genus, Eurystomatella sinica n. sp., is a morphologically unique form that is defined mainly by the combination of a conspicuously flattened body, several caudal cilia, extremely long cilia associated with the buccal apparatus and a contractile vacuole located subcaudally. According to phylogenetic analyses of small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene sequences, Eurystomatella clusters with the genus Cyclidium, as a sister group to the family Pleuronematidae. The great divergence in both buccal and somatic ciliature between Eurystomatella and all other known scuticociliates supports the establishment of a new family for Eurystomatella.

Download Full-text

Small-subunit rRNA gene sequences from representatives of selected families of the Gigartinales and Rhodymeniales (Rhodophyta). 1. Evidence for the Plocamiales ord.nov.

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b94-153 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 72 (9) ◽

pp. 1250-1263 ◽

Cited By ~ 136

Author(s):

G. W. Saunders ◽

G. T. Kraft

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Small Subunit Rrna ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

Small Subunit Rrna Gene ◽

New Information ◽

The Family ◽

Close Relationship ◽

Polymerase Chain

Nucleotide sequences of the nuclear, small-subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNAs, as inferred from polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified products, are presented for Areschougia congesta (Turner) J. Agardh (Solieriaceae), Dasyphloea insignis Montagne (Dumontiaceae), Sarcothalia crassifolia (C. Agardh) Edyvane & Womersley (Gigartinaceae), Nizymenia australis Sonder (Nizymeniaceae), Phacelocarpus peperocarpos (Poiret) Wynne, Ardré & Silva (Phacelocarpaceae), Plocamiocolax pulvinata Setchell, Plocamium angustum (J. Agardh) J.D. Hooker, Plocamium cartilagineum (Linnaeus) Dixon (Plocamiaceae), Rhodymenia linearis J. Agardh (Rhodymeniaceae), and Sphaerococcus coronopifolius Stackhouse (Sphaerococcaceae). Phylogenetic analyses of the SSU sequences between the Plocamiaceae and members of the Sphaerococcaceae, Phacelocarpaceae, and Nizymeniaceae, with which the Plocamiaceae has been associated historically, show SSU differences of between 87 and 105 nucleotides and do not indicate a close relationship. A review of anatomical knowledge of the Plocamiaceae and Pseudoanemoniaceae and new information on vegetative and tetrasporangial development in Plocamium and Plocamiocolax are presented to buttress a case for the Plocamiales ord.nov. Representatives of the Nizymeniaceae and Phacelocarpaceae differ from one another by only nine nucleotides, suggesting that these two taxa are very closely related and perhaps not distinct at the family rank. Key words: Gigartinales, PCR, phylogeny, Plocamiales ord.nov., Pseudoanemoniaceae, Rhodophyta, small-subunit rRNA, systematics.

Download Full-text

Characterization of two urostylid ciliates, Metaurostylopsis flavicana spec. nov. and Tunicothrix wilberti (Lin & Song, 2004) Xu et al., 2006 (Ciliophora, Stichotrichia), from a mangrove nature protection area in China

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY ◽

10.1099/ijs.0.024935-0 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 61 (7) ◽

pp. 1740-1750 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Yangang Wang ◽

Xiaozhong Hu ◽

Jie Huang ◽

Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid ◽

Alan Warren

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Trees ◽

Small Subunit ◽

The Body ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Small Subunit Rrna ◽

Cortical Granules ◽

Nature Protection ◽

Small Subunit Rrna Gene ◽

Protection Area

Two marine stichotrich ciliates, Metaurostylopsis flavicana spec. nov. and Tunicothrix wilberti (Lin & Song, 2004) Xu et al., 2006, isolated from the Shenzhen Mangrove Protection Area on the coast of the South China Sea, were investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation techniques. Metaurostylopsis flavicana is characterized by its elongate body shape, yellowish body colour and bright-yellow cortical granules that are either grouped around the cirri and the dorsal cilia or aligned between the rows of cirri and dorsal cilia. It has four to eight frontal, two frontoterminal, one buccal and seven to ten transverse cirri, a mid-ventral complex comprising 13–17 midventral cirral pairs in a row that extends about three-fifths of the body length, four left and three right marginal rows and three complete dorsal kineties. The small subunit rRNA gene of this species was sequenced and phylogenetic trees were constructed in which M. flavicana does not group with its congeners, suggesting that the genus Metaurostylopsis is paraphyletic. Some supplementary morphological and morphogenetic traits for Tunicothrix wilberti are also documented.

Download Full-text

Two novel marine Frontonia species, Frontonia mengi spec. nov. and Frontonia magna spec. nov. (Protozoa; Ciliophora), with notes on their phylogeny based on small-subunit rRNA gene sequence data

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY ◽

10.1099/ijs.0.024794-0 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 61 (6) ◽

pp. 1476-1486 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Xinpeng Fan ◽

Xiangrui Chen ◽

Weibo Song ◽

Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid ◽

Alan Warren

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Trees ◽

Gene Sequence ◽

Sequence Data ◽

Southern China ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Width Ratio ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Small Subunit Rrna ◽

Small Subunit Rrna Gene ◽

Protozoa Ciliophora

The morphology and infraciliature of two novel marine ciliates, Frontonia mengi spec. nov. and Frontonia magna spec. nov., isolated from coastal waters in northern and southern China, respectively, were investigated using living observation and silver impregnation methods. Frontonia mengi spec. nov. is characterized by its slender body shape, with a length-to-width ratio of about 5 : 1, about 52 somatic kineties and the structure of its buccal apparatus. Frontonia magna spec. nov. can be recognized by the combination of huge body size, about 200 somatic kineties, five or six vestibular kineties and four-rowed peniculi 1–3. Phylogenetic trees based on small-subunit rRNA gene sequences were constructed by means of Bayesian inference and maximum-parsimony. Results showed that F. mengi and F. magna are sister to each other within the ‘core’ clade of Frontonia that also includes Frontonia lynni and Frontonia tchibisovae and that the genus Frontonia may be polyphyletic, because one species, Frontonia didieri, always groups with Paramecium and Apofrontonia.

Download Full-text

Two new marine ciliates, Euplotes sinicus sp. nov. and Euplotes parabalteatus sp. nov., and a new small subunit rRNA gene sequence of Euplotes rariseta (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea, Euplotida)

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY ◽

10.1099/ijs.0.012120-0 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 60 (5) ◽

pp. 1241-1251 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Jiamei Jiang ◽

Qianqian Zhang ◽

Xiaozhong Hu ◽

Chen Shao ◽

Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Trees ◽

Sister Group ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Phylogenetic Position ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Ssu Rrna ◽

The Novel ◽

Small Subunit Rrna ◽

Small Subunit Rrna Gene ◽

Phylogenetic Lineages

The morphology, infraciliature and silverline system of two marine Euplotes, Euplotes sinicus sp. nov. and Euplotes parabalteatus sp. nov., isolated from seawater near Qingdao, China, were investigated. E. sinicus is characterized by having conspicuous dorsal ridges, a single marginal cirrus and a silverline system of the double-patella-I type. E. parabalteatus is an extremely small form (only about 35 μm long) with 6–7 dorsal kineties and a silverline system of the double-eurystomus type. Small subunit (SSU) rRNA-based phylogenetic trees were constructed with three different methods and these firmly demonstrated that the novel species represent two distinct phylogenetic lineages within the genus Euplotes, branching as a sister group to all other sequenced congeners. In addition, the SSU rRNA gene of another rare, morphologically similar form, Euplotes rariseta, was sequenced. This revealed the phylogenetic position of E. rariseta to be basal to one of the major groups of Euplotes rather than close to Euplotes nobilii.

Download Full-text

Phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic distinction of six genera of pathogenic scuticociliates (Protozoa, Ciliophora) inferred from small-subunit rRNA gene sequences

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY ◽

10.1099/ijs.0.028464-0 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 246-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Feng Gao ◽

Michaela Strüder-Kypke ◽

Zhenzhen Yi ◽

Miao Miao ◽

Saleh A. Al-Farraj ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Trees ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Small Subunit Rrna ◽

Small Subunit Rrna Gene ◽

Close Phylogenetic Relationship ◽

Unbiased Test ◽

Close Relationship ◽

Protozoa Ciliophora ◽

Generic Relationships

Pathogenic scuticociliates, which are common in the haemolymph or tissues of maricultured animals and often cause serious diseases, are a species-rich assemblage with mostly unresolved systematic relationships, especially in some less-studied groups. In the present study, we sequenced the small-subunit rRNA gene of six species of scuticociliates, Uronemella parafilificum, Metanophrys sinensis, Parauronema longum, Cohnilembus verminus, Porpostoma notata and Ancistrum crassum, the last two of which have not been studied previously using molecular analyses. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using Bayesian inference, maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsimony methods to assess the inter- and intra-generic relationships of scuticociliates. Results revealed the following: 1) Porpostoma did not cluster with the Philasteridae, Cohnilembidae or any other family of the order Philasterida; 2) sequences of Uronemella parafilificum and Uronemella filificum showed a difference of 1.02 % (15 nt sites), revealing a close relationship between them; 3) the approximately unbiased test rejected monophyly of both Metanophrys and Parauronema, indicating that the terminal position of the anterior end of the paroral membrane and the structure of membranelle 1 are unreliable characters for distinction of genera in this group of scuticociliates; 4) Ancistrum crassum grouped with Boveria subcylindrica, showing a close phylogenetic relationship between the orders Thigmotrichida and Pleuronematida; and 5) Parauronema longum, Cyclidium plouneouri and Cyclidium porcatum should be removed from their currently assigned genera.

Download Full-text