title: Molecular markers from different genomic compartments reveal cryptic diversity within glaucophyte species.
abstract: Glaucophytes are the least studied of the three major Archaeplastida (Plantae sensu lato) lineages. It has been largely recognized that comprehensive investigations of glaucophyte genetic and species diversity will shed light on the early evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes. Here we used molecular phylogenetics and genetic distance estimations of diverse molecular markers to explore strain and species diversity within the glaucophyte genera Cyanophora and Glaucocystis. Single gene and concatenated maximum likelihood analyses of markers from three different genetic compartments consistently recovered similar intrageneric genetic groups. Distance analyses of plastid (psbA and rbcL) and mitochondrial (cob and cox1) genes, and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, revealed substantial genetic divergence between some Cyanophora paradoxa and Glaucocystis nostochinearum strains. The genetic distances estimated between some glaucophyte strains currently considered the same species are similar or greater than divergence values calculated between different species in other unicellular algae, such as certain green algae and diatoms. The analyzed molecular markers are prospective candidates for future studies of species diversity in glaucophytes. Overall, our results unveil previously unrecognized cryptic diversity within Cyanophora and Glaucocystis species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, 10 Bailey Drive, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada; Integrated Microbiology Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Canada.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, 10 Bailey Drive, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada; Integrated Microbiology Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea; Department of Biology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Im
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hwan Su
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, 10 Bailey Drive, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada; Integrated Microbiology Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Canada. Electronic address: areyes@unb.ca.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reyes-Prieto
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000235:genetics; D044424:Cyanophora / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D017377:Diatoms / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D058108:Glaucophyta / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D007723:Korea; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics; D009656:North America; D010802:Phylogeny; D018087:Plastids / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: Archaeplastida; Cryptic species diversity; Cyanophora; Glaucocystis; Glaucophyta