Oxymonads are a morphologically well-characterized and highly diverse lineage of protists. They are, however, under sampled at a molecular level. It has recently been demonstrated that a genus of oxymonads, Pyrsonympha, is phylogenetically related to the excavate taxon Trimastix. Here, we addressed issues of internal oxymonad evolution. Pyrsonympha and Dinenympha are shown, by fluorescent in situ hybridization and phylogenetic evidence, to be separate genera and not morphotypes of the same organism. We demonstrated that three genera of oxymonads, Dinenympha, Pyrsonympha, and Oxymonas are each monophyletic and together form a clade which excludes other known eukaryotes. We have presented a taxonomic scheme of oxymonads taking into account their sisterhood with Trimastix and speculated on morphological evolution of oxymonads, particularly of their attachment apparatuses. Our biogeographical analysis with Japanese and Canadian Pyrsonympha and Dinenympha suggests that these genera diverged before the separation of termites that inhabit Eastern Asia and Western North America.
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1 May 2003
Molecular Phylogeny of Three Oxymonad Genera: Pyrsonympha, Dinenympha and Oxymonas
SHIGEHARU MORIYA,
JOEL B. DACKS,
AIKA TAKAGI,
SATOKO NODA,
MORIYA OHKUMA,
W. FORD DOOLITTLE,
TOSHIAKI KUDO
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The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology
Vol. 50 • No. 3
May 2003
Vol. 50 • No. 3
May 2003
classification
cytoskeleton
excavate
Golgi
holdfast
mitochondria
phylogeny