Abstract
Oxytricha trifallax - an established model organism for studying genome rearrangements, chromosome structure, scrambled genes, RNA-mediated epigenetic inheritance, and other phenomena - has been the subject of a nomenclature controversy for several years. Originally isolated as a sibling species of . O. fallax, . O. trifallax was reclassified in 1999 as . Sterkiella histriomuscorum, a previously identified species, based on morphological similarity. The proper identification of . O. trifallax is crucial to resolve in order to prevent confusion in both the comparative genomics and the general scientific communities. We analyzed nine conserved nuclear gene sequences between the two given species and several related ciliates. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that . O. trifallax and a bona fide . S. histriomuscorum have accumulated significant evolutionary divergence from each other relative to other ciliates such that they should be unequivocally classified as separate species. We also describe the original isolation of . O. trifallax, including its comparison to . O. fallax, and we provide criteria to identify future isolates of . O. trifallax.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 643-657 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Protist |
Volume | 163 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Jingmei Wang for culturing O. trifallax, S. lemnae, and S. nova. Thanks to David J. Witherspoon and Kevin R. Williams for the hybridization screens with a TBE1 probe. We thank Anne Baroin-Tourancheau (S. histriomuscorum strain BA) and Wei-Jen Chang (N. ovalis) for providing DNA samples. We acknowledge funding from NSF (grant 0622112 to L.F.L.), NIH (grants GM59708 to L.F.L. and GM25203 to G.H.), Ball State University (to R.L.H.), and Princeton University.
Keywords
- Ciliate
- Concatenated tree.
- Evolution
- Hypotrich
- Oxytricha fallax
- Oxytricha trifallax
- Phylogeny
- Spirotrich
- Sterkiella histriomuscorum
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology