title: Characterization of a photosynthetic Euglena strain isolated from an acidic hot mud pool of a volcanic area of Costa Rica.
abstract: Abstract Conspicuous green patches on the surface of an acidic hot mud pool located near the Rincón de la Vieja volcano (northwestern Costa Rica) consisted of apparently unialgal populations of a chloroplast-bearing euglenoid. Morphological and physiological studies showed that it is a non-flagellated photosynthetic Euglena strain able to grow in defined mineral media at temperatures up to 40 degrees C and exhibiting higher thermotolerance than Euglena gracilis SAG 5/15 in photosynthetic activity analyses. Molecular phylogeny studies using 18S rDNA and GapC genes indicated that this strain is closely related to Euglena mutabilis, another acid-tolerant photosynthetic euglenoid, forming a clade deeply rooted in the Euglenales lineage. To our knowledge this is the most thermotolerant euglenoid described so far and the first Euglenozoan strain reported to inhabit acidic hot aquatic habitats.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Biología Celular y Molecular (CIBCM), Universidad de Costa Rica, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, San José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sittenfeld
authors.forename: Marielos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: José María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Albertazzi
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cordero
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roncel
authors.forename: Ethel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weckesser
authors.forename: Aurelio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serrano