title: Tetraflagellochloris mauritanica gen. et sp. nov. (Chlorophyceae), a New Flagellated Alga from the Mauritanian Desert: Morphology, Ultrastructure, and Phylogenetic Framing.
abstract: Morphological, ultrastructural, and molecular-sequence data were used to assess the phylogenetic position of a tetraflagellate green alga isolated from soil samples of a saline dry basin near F'derick, Mauritania. This alga can grow as individual cells or form non-coenobial colonies of up to 12 individuals. It has a parietal chloroplast with an embedded pyrenoid covered by a starch sheath and traversed by single parallel thylakoids, and an eyespot located in a parietal position opposite to the flagellar insertion. Lipid vacuoles are present in the cytoplasm. Microspectroscopy indicated the presence of chlorophylls a and b, with lutein as the major carotenoid in the chloroplast, while the eyespot spectrum has a shape typical of green-algal eyespots. The cell has four flagella, two of them long and two considerably shorter. Sequence data from the 18S rRNA gene and ITS2 were obtained and compared with published sequences for green algae. Results from morphological and ultrastructural examinations and sequence analysis support the placement of this alga in the Chlorophyceae, as Tetraflagellochloris mauritanica L. Barsanti et A. Barsanti, gen. et sp. nov.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barsanti
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Frassanito
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Passarelli
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Valtere
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Evangelista
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva, Università di Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, Siena, 53100, Italy.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Etebari
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva, Università di Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, Siena, 53100, Italy.
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paccagnini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva, Università di Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, Siena, 53100, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lupetti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Morfologia Umana e Biologia Applicata, Università di Pisa, Via Roma 55, Pisa, 56126, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lenzi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Unità di Protistologia, Università di Pisa, Via Volta 4, Pisa, 56126, Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Verni
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gualtieri
keywords: 18S ribosomal RNA; Chlamydomonadales; Chlorophyta; ITS2; tetraflagellate