title: Strains of the Morphospecies Ploeotia costata (Euglenozoa) Isolated from the Western North Pacific (Taiwan) Reveal Substantial Genetic Differences.
abstract: Two phagotrophic euglenid strains (Strains Pac and Tam) were isolated from coastal locations in Taiwan. Ultrastructural characteristics of the strains included five pellicle strips joined at the posterior end. The strips were formed by major grooves with bifurcated edges. At the cell anterior, the feeding structure formed a lip. Underneath the lip was a comb composed of layers of microtubules. Farther back, two supporting rods tapered toward the posterior end, and a number of vanes with attached microtubules were present between the rods. The morphological characteristics agree with Ploeotia costata Strain CCAP 1265/1. However, the 18S rDNA sequences of Strains Pac/Tam lacked a group I intron and possessed three extra insertions of 116, 67, and 53 bp. Phylogenetic analysis indicated low sequence similarity between Strains Pac/Tam and CCAP 1265/1 (92%). The morphospecies P. costata apparently includes a substantial level of DNA sequence divergence, and likely represents multiple molecular species units.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Environmental Chemistry and Ecology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ya-Fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Kuo-Ping
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: Jeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Øjvind
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Moestrup
authors.forename: Chih-Ching
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D056898:Euglenozoa / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D032023:Integrons; D008853:Microscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010802:Phylogeny; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S
keywords: 18S rDNA; group I intron; morphology