Emerging Diversity Within Well-known Heterotrophic Flagellates Groups Revealed by Environmental Surveys

1. Javier del Campo and Ramon Massana
Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
jdelcampo@icm.cat
Institut de Ciències del Mar
Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008
Nice

2. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008
34 works based on clone libraries have
been published since the first study of
this kind appeared in 2001 since the
beginning of 2008.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001

3. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008

4. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008
contains a great variety of morphological types that historically has been
considered different orders and families. This large group of heterokonts are found mostly
on freshwater but also some heterotrophic members of this group have been considered
important members of marine communities such as Paraphysomonas. Its morphological
diversity includes presence of lorica or shells, filamentous organisms, non-motile ones, or
amoeboids. Most of them are unicellular flagellates with one or two visible flagella.
are free-living unicellular or colonial heterotrophic flagellates
Opisthokonta. Are considered the metazoan closest relatives and because of that are a
main object of study by evolutionary biologists. Its morphology is characterized by an
ovoid or spherical 3-10 um in diameter cell shape. Choanoflagellates caracteristically
poses an apical flagellum surrounded by a collar. Aproximately around 125 species
have been described since now living in marine, brakish and freshwater environments all
around the globe
are unicellullar organisms bearing two flagella that insert anterio-laterally.
One flagellum attaching to the substrate or lorica either directly or indirectly (via a thread of
mucus) to the substrate. Anterior flagellum creates currents of water from which particles are
ingested at a discrete ingestion area. Freshwater and marine. Three genera in two families:
Bicosoecidae for the loricate taxa and the Cafeteriidae for the aloricate taxa.

5. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008
100.00
90.00
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Other HNF
NAI/II
MAST
Choanos
Bicos
Chrysos
100.00
90.00
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Other HNF
NAI/II
MAST
Choanos
Bicos
Chrysos
MO MO MO MO MA MO MO FO FO FA MO MO FA MO MO MO

6. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
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Clade C
Clade B1
Clade A
Clade B2
Clade E
Clade D
Clade I
Clade H
Clade G
Clade F1
Clade F2

7. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
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Clade 2
Clade 1
MACH 7
MACH 6
MACH 4
MACH 3
MACH 5
MACH 8
MACH 2
MACH 1
Clade 3

8. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
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Freshwater
Cafeteria
Bicosoeca
Caecitellus
Halocafeteria
Boroka

9. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008
Well-known cultured HNF representatives are not usually found in clone
libraries. That indicates that novel taxa are dominant in the aquatic
environments.
Sequences corresponding to uncultured HNF constitute the emerging diversity.
Emerging diversity will probably appear in all protists lineages. A deep analysis
of moleculars surveys is needed to improve protists phylogeny.
This and other related studies indicates that most of the HNF are not cultured.
Is extremely important to increase the culturing effort and assume that an
strong culturing bias is affecting the study of HNF.

10. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
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Develop FISH probes against novel groups as well against classical groups in marine
environments to determine its importance in the sea.
Obtain in culture some of these new protists by using novel isolation and culturing
techniques, avoiding the classic ones.
Develop FISH probes against the obatined cultures and look for them at the
environment to quantify its presence in the ocean.
Once obtained stable cultures we will carry out ecophysiological, morphological,
ultrastuctural and molecular characterization

11. Resolving Species in Marine Protists
4th to 5th of December 2008
Vanessa
Balagué
Dr. Fernando
Unrein
Dr. Fabrice
Not
Irene
Forn
Prof. Ramon
Massana
Raquel
Rodríguez
thanks for
your attention