Journal
PEERJ
Volume 3, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PEERJ INC
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1234
Keywords
Amoebozoa; Evolution of eukaryotes; Conquer of terrestrial environment; Molecular clocks; Testate amoebae; Silica cycle; Coupled carbon and silica cycles; Vase shaped microfossils; Ancestral state reconstruction
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Funding
- FAPESP [2013/04585-3]
- NASA Astrobiology Institute [NNA13AA90A]
- NASA Exobiology award [6927184]
- CNPq-MIT seed fund [551952/2011-3]
- University of Neuchatel
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The terrestrial cycling of Si is thought to have a large influence on the terrestrial and marine primary production, as well as the coupled biogeochemical cycles of Si and C. Biomineralization of silica is widespread among terrestrial eukaryotes such as plants, soil diatoms, freshwater sponges, silicifying flagellates and testate amoebae. Two major groups of testate (shelled) amoebae, arcellinids and euglyphids, produce their own silica particles to construct shells. The two are unrelated phylogenetically and acquired biomineralizing capabilities independently. Hyalosphenids, a group within arcellinids, are predators of euglyphids. We demonstrate that hyalosphenids can construct shells using silica scales mineralized by the euglyphids. Parsimony analyses of the current hyalosphenid phylogeny indicate that the ability to steal euglyphid scales is most likely ancestral in hyalosphenids, implying that euglyphids should be older than hyalosphenids. However, exactly when euglyphids arose is uncertain. Current fossil record contains unambiguous euglyphid fossils that are as old as 50 million years, but older fossils are scarce and difficult to interpret. Poor taxon sampling of euglyphids has also prevented the development of molecular clocks. Here, we present a novel molecular clock reconstruction for arcellinids and consider the uncertainties due to various previously used calibration points. The new molecular clock puts the origin of hyalosphenids in the early Carboniferous (similar to 370 mya). Notably, this estimate coincides with the widespread colonization of land by Si-accumulating plants, suggesting possible links between the evolution of Arcellinid testate amoebae and the expansion of terrestrial habitats rich in organic matter and bioavailable Si.
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