title: Three novel species of coccoid green algae within the Watanabea clade (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta).
abstract: Coccoid green algae are extremely diverse despite their simple coccoid phenotype, a phenotype that may be the result of convergent evolution. In this study, we used a polyphasic approach combining molecular phylogenetic analyses, morphology and ultrastructure to investigate isolated coccoid strains from China, and our results reveal three new lineages of Trebouxiophyceae: the novel genus and species Mysteriochloris nanningensis gen. et sp. nov., and the two novel species Phyllosiphon coccidium sp. nov. and Desertella yichangensis sp. nov. (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta). We provide a detailed characterization of the novel microalgae which they are autosporic coccoid unicells and have parietal chloroplasts. In phylogenies based on 18S rDNA sequences and the chloroplast ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase gene (rbcL), these three algae are nested within the Watanabea clade and are different from any known algae. M. nanningensis FACHB-1787 is not really close to any known algae within the Watanabea clade. Phyllosiphoncoccidium FACHB-2212 is within the Phyllosiphon lineages. D. yichangensis FACHB-1793 is closely related to Desertella californica and described as a representative of a novel species of the genus Desertella.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, PR China.
authors.forename: Huiyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, PR China.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Guoxiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhengyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D061125:Genes, Chloroplast; D058086:Microalgae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase