THE bewildering organismal and functional complexity of microbial eukaryotes has long fascinated protistologists but exceeded the capacity of this research community to comprehensively study it. Lacking the critical mass for a strong scientific discipline, protistologists remain largely divided into various sub-communities (protozoology versus phycology, aquatic versus terrestrial systems, fossil versus extant organisms, etc.), many of …
March 2017 archive
Mar 26
How Embryophytic is the Biosynthesis of Phenylpropanoids and their Derivatives in Streptophyte Algae?
The origin of land plants from algae is a long-standing question in evolutionary biology. It is becoming increasingly clear that many characters that were once assumed to be “embryophyte-specific” can in fact be found in their closest algal relatives, the streptophyte algae. One such case is the phenylpropanoid pathway. While biochemical data indicate that streptophyte …
Mar 25
How Embryophytic is the Biosynthesis of Phenylpropanoids and their Derivatives in Streptophyte Algae?
The origin of land plants from algae is a long-standing question in evolutionary biology. It is becoming increasingly clear that many characters that were once assumed to be ’embryophyte specific’ can in fact be found in their closest algal relatives, the streptophyte algae. One such case is the phenylpropanoid pathway. While biochemical data indicate that streptophyte algae harbor lignin-like components, the phenylpropanoid core pathway, which serves as the backbone of lignin biosynthesis, has…
Mar 22
Revisiting the evolutionary history and roles of protein phosphatases with Kelch-like domains in plants.
Protein phosphatases with Kelch-like domains (PPKL) are members of the phosphoprotein phosphatases family present only in plants and alveolates. PPKL have been described as positive effectors of brassinosteroid (BR) signaling in plants. Most of the evidence supporting this role has been gathered using one of the four homologs in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), brassinosteroid-insensitive1 suppressor (BSU1). …
Mar 22
Morphological and molecular characterization of a new species of Stephanopogon, Stephanopogon pattersoni n. sp.
Stephanopogon is a taxon of multiciliated protists that is now known to belong to Heterolobosea. Small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) phylogenies indicate that Stephanopogon is closely related to or descended from Percolomonas, a small tetraflagellate with a different feeding structure, thus these morphologically dissimilar taxa are of ongoing evolutionary interest. A new strain of …
Mar 22
Morphological and molecular characterisation of Notosolenus urceolatus Larsen and Patterson 1990, a member of an understudied deep-branching euglenid group (petalomonads).
Petalomonads are particularly important for understanding the early evolution of euglenids, but are arguably the least studied major group within this taxon. We have established a culture of the biflagellate petalomonad Notosolenus urceolatus, and conducted electron microscopy observations and molecular phylogenetic analysis. Notosolenus urceolatus has eight pellicular strips bordered by grooves and underlain by close-set …
Mar 22
Which is more important for classifying microbial communities: who’s there or what they can do?
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Mar 22
Characterization of Tulamoeba bucina n. sp., an extremely halotolerant amoeboflagellate heterolobosean belonging to the Tulamoeba-Pleurostomum clade (Tulamoebidae n. fam.).
Most protozoans that have been cultivated recently from high salinity waters appear to be obligate halophiles. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that these species mostly represent independent lineages. Here, we report the cultivation, morphological characterization, and phylogenetic analysis of two strains (XLG1 and HLM-8) of a new extremely halotolerant heterolobosean amoeboflagellate. This species is closely related to …
Mar 22
Seasonal assemblages and short-lived blooms in coastal north-west Atlantic Ocean bacterioplankton.
Temperate oceans are inhabited by diverse and temporally dynamic bacterioplankton communities. However, the role of the environment, resources and phytoplankton dynamics in shaping marine bacterioplankton communities at different time scales remains poorly constrained. Here, we combined time series observations (time scales of weeks to years) with molecular analysis of formalin-fixed samples from a coastal inlet …
Mar 22
Fecal microbes, short chain fatty acids, and colorectal cancer across racial/ethnic groups.
AIM: To investigate differences in microbes and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels in stool samples from Hispanic and non-Hispanic African American, American Indian, and White participants. METHODS: Stool samples from twenty participants were subjected to analysis for relative levels of viable bacteria and for SCFA levels. Additionally, the samples were subjected to 16S rRNA …
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