Ancoracysta

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Ancoracysta
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: Provora
Phylum: Nebulidia
Class: Nebulidea
Order: Nebulidida
Family: Nebulidae
Genus: Ancoracysta
Species:
A. twista
Binomial name
Ancoracysta twista
Janouškovec, Tikhonenkov, Burki, Howe, Rohwer, Mylnikov & Keeling 2017 [1]

Ancoracysta is a genus of eukaryotic microbes containing the species Ancoracysta twista, a predatory protist that appears to be related to Haptista. [1]

Description

Ancoracysta twista was first described in November 2017 in Current Biology . It was found in a sample collected from the surface of a tropical aquarium brain coral. It actively feeds on Procryptobia sorokini , probably immobilising its prey through discharging a previously unknown type of extrusome named an ancoracyst. [1]

Genetic analysis shows that it is not closely related to any known lineage, but it may be most closely related to a grouping of haptophytes and centrohelids (Haptista). It is notable for having a gene-rich mitochondrial genome, the largest known outside the jakobids or Diphylleia rotans . Uniquely, it appears to contain both the nucleus-encoded holocytochrome c synthase system III and the mitochondrion-encoded bacterial cytochrome c maturation system I. [1]

Taxonomy

A 2018 study from Cavalier-Smith, Chao & Lewis created a new subphylum and subsequent lower taxonomic ranks for Ancoracysta twista. They also created a new combination for Colponema marisrubri (Mylnikov & Tikhonenkov, 2009), which was shown to be ultrastructurally similar and phylogenetically close to A. twista, thus renaming it A. marisrubri. [2]

A 2022 study placed A. twista in a new supergroup Provora, closely related to other supergroups of Diaphoretickes such as Haptista, but no longer within Haptista. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alveolate</span> Superphylum of protists

The alveolates are a group of protists, considered a major clade and superphylum within Eukarya. They are currently grouped with the stramenopiles and Rhizaria among the protists with tubulocristate mitochondria into the SAR supergroup.

Extrusomes are membrane-bound structures in some eukaryotes which, under certain conditions, discharge their contents outside the cell. There are a variety of different types, probably not homologous, and serving various functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chromista</span> Eukaryotic biological kingdom

Chromista is a proposed but polyphyletic biological kingdom, refined from the Chromalveolata, consisting of single-celled and multicellular eukaryotic species that share similar features in their photosynthetic organelles (plastids). It includes all eukaryotes whose plastids contain chlorophyll c and are surrounded by four membranes. If the ancestor already possessed chloroplasts derived by endosymbiosis from red algae, all non-photosynthetic Chromista have secondarily lost the ability to photosynthesise. Its members might have arisen independently as separate evolutionary groups from the last eukaryotic common ancestor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cercozoa</span> Group of single-celled organisms

Cercozoa is a phylum of diverse single-celled eukaryotes. They lack shared morphological characteristics at the microscopic level, and are instead united by molecular phylogenies of rRNA and actin or polyubiquitin. They were the first major eukaryotic group to be recognized mainly through molecular phylogenies. They are the natural predators of many species of bacteria. They are closely related to the phylum Retaria, comprising amoeboids that usually have complex shells, and together form a supergroup called Rhizaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhizaria</span> Infrakingdom of protists

The Rhizaria are a diverse and species-rich supergroup of mostly unicellular eukaryotes. Except for the Chlorarachniophytes and three species in the genus Paulinella in the phylum Cercozoa, they are all non-photosynthethic, but many foraminifera and radiolaria have a symbiotic relationship with unicellular algae. A multicellular form, Guttulinopsis vulgaris, a cellular slime mold, has been described. This group was used by Cavalier-Smith in 2002, although the term "Rhizaria" had been long used for clades within the currently recognized taxon. Being described mainly from rDNA sequences, they vary considerably in form, having no clear morphological distinctive characters (synapomorphies), but for the most part they are amoeboids with filose, reticulose, or microtubule-supported pseudopods. In the absence of an apomorphy, the group is ill-defined, and its composition has been very fluid. Some Rhizaria possess mineral exoskeletons, which are in different clades within Rhizaria made out of opal, celestite, or calcite. Certain species can attain sizes of more than a centimeter with some species being able to form cylindrical colonies approximately 1 cm in diameter and greater than 1 m in length. They feed by capturing and engulfing prey with the extensions of their pseudopodia; forms that are symbiotic with unicellular algae contribute significantly to the total primary production of the ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amorphea</span> Group including fungi, animals and various protozoa

Amorphea is a taxonomic supergroup that includes the basal Amoebozoa and Obazoa. That latter contains the Opisthokonta, which includes the Fungi, Animals and the Choanomonada, or Choanoflagellates. The taxonomic affinities of the members of this clade were originally described and proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeplastida</span> Clade of eukaryotes containing land plants and some algae

The Archaeplastida are a major group of eukaryotes, comprising the photoautotrophic red algae (Rhodophyta), green algae, land plants, and the minor group glaucophytes. It also includes the non-photosynthetic lineage Rhodelphidia, a predatorial (eukaryotrophic) flagellate that is sister to the Rhodophyta, and probably the microscopic picozoans. The Archaeplastida have chloroplasts that are surrounded by two membranes, suggesting that they were acquired directly through a single endosymbiosis event by phagocytosis of a cyanobacterium. All other groups which have chloroplasts, besides the amoeboid genus Paulinella, have chloroplasts surrounded by three or four membranes, suggesting they were acquired secondarily from red or green algae. Unlike red and green algae, glaucophytes have never been involved in secondary endosymbiosis events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telonemia</span> Phylum of single-celled organisms

Telonemia is a phylum of microscopic eukaryotes commonly known as telonemids. They are unicellular free-living flagellates with a unique combination of cell structures, including a highly complex cytoskeleton unseen in other eukaryotes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakobid</span>

Jakobids are an order of free-living, heterotrophic, flagellar eukaryotes in the supergroup Excavata. They are small, and can be found in aerobic and anaerobic environments. The order Jakobida, believed to be monophyletic, consists of only twenty species at present, and was classified as a group in 1993. There is ongoing research into the mitochondrial genomes of jakobids, which are unusually large and bacteria-like, evidence that jakobids may be important to the evolutionary history of eukaryotes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacrobia</span> Group of algae

The cryptomonads-haptophytes assemblage is a proposed but disputed monophyletic grouping of unicellular eukaryotes that are not included in the SAR supergroup. Several alternative names have been used for the group, including Hacrobia ; CCTH ; and "Eukaryomonadae".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holozoa</span> Clade containing animals and some protists

Holozoa is a clade of organisms that includes animals and their closest single-celled relatives, but excludes fungi and all other organisms. Together they amount to more than 1.5 million species of purely heterotrophic organisms, including around 300 unicellular species. It consists of various subgroups, namely Metazoa and the protists Choanoflagellata, Filasterea, Pluriformea and Ichthyosporea. Along with fungi and some other groups, Holozoa is part of the Opisthokonta, a supergroup of eukaryotes. Choanofila was previously used as the name for a group similar in composition to Holozoa, but its usage is discouraged now because it excludes animals and is therefore paraphyletic.

<i>Amastigomonas</i> Genus of protozoa with two flagella

Amastigomonas is a genus of protists belonging to a lineage of biciliated zooflagellates known as Apusomonadida. It was first described in 1931 by Henri de Saedeleer. The current use of Amastigomonas is as a descriptive archetype, with no phylogenetic or taxonomic implications. The term "Amastigomonas-like" is used to refer to all apusomonads that lack the 'derived' characteristics of Apusomonas.

Diphylleia rotans is a eukaryotic microorganism. It is notable for having a gene-rich mitochondrial genome, the largest known outside the jakobids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptista</span> Phylum of algae

Cryptista is a clade of alga-like eukaryotes. It is most likely related to Archaeplastida which includes plants and many algae, within the larger group Diaphoretickes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haptista</span> Group of protists

Haptista is a proposed group of protists made up of centrohelids and haptophytes. Phylogenomic studies indicate that Haptista, together with Ancoracysta twista, forms a sister clade to the SAR+Telonemia supergroup, but it may also be sister to the Cryptista (+Archaeplastida). It is thus one of the earliest diverging Diaphoretickes.

Endohelea is a proposed clade of eukaryotes that are related to Archaeplastida and the SAR supergroup. They used to be considered heliozoans, but phylogenetically they belong to a group of microorganisms known as Cryptista.

Palpitea is a proposed clade of eukaryotes that are related to Archaeplastida and the SAR supergroup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obazoa</span> Proposed group of single-celled organisms

Obazoa is a proposed sister clade of Amoebozoa. The term Obazoa is based on the OBA acronym for Opisthokonta, Breviatea, and Apusomonadida, the group's three constituent clades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cortical alveolum</span> Cellular organelle found in protists

The cortical alveolum is a cellular organelle consisting of a vesicle located under the cytoplasmic membrane, to which they give support. The term "corticate" comes from an evolutionary hypothesis about the common origin of kingdoms Plantae and Chromista, because both kingdoms have cortical alveoli in at least one phylum. At least three protist lineages exhibit these structures: Telonemia, Alveolata and Glaucophyta.

A supergroup, in evolutionary biology, is a large group of organisms that share one common ancestor and have important defining characteristics. It is an informal, mostly arbitrary rank in biological taxonomy that is often greater than phylum or kingdom, although some supergroups are also treated as phyla.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Janouškovec J, Tikhonenkov DV, Burki F, Howe AT, Rohwer FL, Mylnikov AP, Keeling PJ. "A New Lineage of Eukaryotes Illuminates Early Mitochondrial Genome Reduction", Current Biology 2017, doi : 10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.051
  2. Tikhonenkov, Denis V.; Mikhailov, Kirill V.; Gawryluk, Ryan M. R.; Belyaev, Artem O.; Mathur, Varsha; Karpov, Sergey A.; Zagumyonnyi, Dmitry G.; Borodina, Anastasia S.; Prokina, Kristina I.; Mylnikov, Alexander P.; Aleoshin, Vladimir V.; Keeling, Patrick J. (2022). "Microbial predators form a new supergroup of eukaryotes". Nature. 612 (7941): 714–719. Bibcode:2022Natur.612..714T. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05511-5. PMID   36477531. S2CID   254436650.