Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PROTISTOLOGY
Volume 46, Issue 4, Pages 280-288Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2010.05.001
Keywords
Paraspathidium; SSU rRNA; Secondary structure; Phylogeny; Plagiopylea
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Funding
- Natural Science Foundation of China [30870264]
- UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [14-015]
- Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity, King Saud University
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Traditionally the unusual ciliate Paraspathidium has been regarded as a gymnostome haptorid (Litostomatea) based on its morphological features. In order to test this placement, the small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene was sequenced for two isolates of Paraspathidium apofuscum and phylogenetic trees were constructed. Furthermore, the putative structure of the variable regions 2 and 4 of the SSU rRNA gene were predicted and compared with those of other ciliates. Our analyses of SSU rRNA gene sequences revealed (i) a clear separation of Paraspathidium from the haptorids and indeed the class Litostomatea, rejecting its systematic position based on morphological characters and (ii) an equally clear association with the assemblage comprising the classes Plagiopylea and Prostomatea. Putative secondary structures of the variable regions 2 and 4 of Paraspathidium are similar to those of the plagiopyleans and prostomateans but differ from the hapotrids in Helix 10, Helix E10-1 and Helix E23-5. Taken together, these results support the placement of Paraspathidium close to prostomateans and plagiopyleans, or even as a distinct group possibly at ordinal rank, within the class Plagiopylea. (C) 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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