Paramecium putrinum (Ciliophora, Protozoa): the first insight into the variation of two DNA fragments - molecular support for the existence of cryptic species.
Paramecium putrinum (Claparede & Lachmann 1858) is one of the smallest (80-140 μm long) species of the genus Paramecium. Although it commonly occurs in freshwater reservoirs, no molecular studies of P. putrinum have been conducted to date. Herein we present an assessment of molecular variation in 27 strains collected from widely separated populations by using two selected DNA fragments (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2-5'LSU rDNA and COI mtDNA). Both the trees and haplotype networks reconstructed for both genome fragments show that the studied strains of P. putrinum form five main haplogroups. The mean distance between the studied strains is p-distance=0.007/0.068 (rDNA/COI) and exhibits similar variability as that between P. bursaria syngens. Based on these data, one could hypothesize that the clusters revealed in the present study may correspond to previously reported syngens and that there are at least five cryptic species within P. putrinum.
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków 31-016, Sławkowska 17, Poland. Electronic address: tarcz@isez.pan.krakow.pl.
Sebastian
S
Tarcz
Laboratory of Protistology and Experimental Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Soil Science, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia.
Maria
M
Rautian
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Soil Science, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia.
Alexey
A
Potekhin
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków 31-016, Sławkowska 17, Poland.
Natalia
N
Sawka
Laboratory of Protistology and Experimental Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Soil Science, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia.
Alexandra
A
Beliavskaya
Laboratory of Protistology and Experimental Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Soil Science, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia.
Andrey
A
Kiselev
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Soil Science, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia.
Irina
I
Nekrasova
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków 31-016, Sławkowska 17, Poland.
Ewa
E
Przyboś
D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D010247:Paramecium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal
Ciliophora; Cryptic species; Intraspecific polymorphism; Paramecium putrinum; Syngens; Two-locus DNA barcoding