Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 12, 573-581, Copyright © 1995 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
ME Siddall, NA Stokes and EM Burreson
The phylogenetic position of the phylum Haplosporidia among other protists
was investigated with the complete 16S-like rRNA gene sequences from two
species in the phylum: Haplosporidium nelsoni, a parasite of oysters, and
Minchinia teredinis, a parasite of shipworms. Because the lack of obvious
morphological homologies with other protists hampered decisions regarding
taxonomic composition for sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis, the
complete sequences for these two haplosporidians were directed as search
queries to the blast/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov electronic mail server. The results
of this heuristic similarity search provided a basis for constructing a
preliminary higher-taxonomic-level analysis comparing the haplosporidians
with species from the slime molds, fungi, algae, amoebae, ciliates,
dinoflagellates, and apicomplexans. Maximum parsimony yielded equivocal
results, whereas transversionally weighted parsimony suggested an affinity
with the alveolates (i.e., the ciliates, dinoflagellates, and
apicomplexans). Multiple alignment of the two haplosporidian sequences
against 17 taxa in a secondary analysis focusing on the alveolates and
subsequent parsimony analysis placed the phylum Haplosporidia as a
monophyletic group within the Alveolata and as a taxon of equal rank with
the other three alveolate phyla. The precise placement within the Alveolata
was sensitive to weighting.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Molecular phylogenetic evidence that the phylum Haplosporidia has an alveolate ancestry
School of Marine Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point 23062, USA.
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