New Section: Protist Genome Reports
Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): Michael Melkonian (Source: Protist)
Source: Protist - August 22, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Microscopical Studies on Ministeria vibrans Tong, 1997 (Filasterea) Highlight the Cytoskeletal Structure of the Common Ancestor of Filasterea, Metazoa and Choanoflagellata
Publication date: Available online 22 August 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): Alexander P. Mylnikov, Denis V. Tikhonenkov, Sergey A. Karpov, Claudia WylezichMinisteria vibrans (Filasterea) is a tiny amoeboid species described by Tong in 1997. It has been sporadically found in different habitats, and cultured strains were established. M. vibrans is well characterised by molecular phylogeny but until now was not ultrastructurally investigated in detail. Here, we provide the ultrastructure for this species based on a new strain isolated from oxygen-depleted water of the Baltic Sea. A thin vibrating flagellum could be observed bu...
Source: Protist - August 22, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Unmasking "The Eldest Son of the Father of Protozoology": Charles King
Publication date: Available online 7 August 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): John R. DolanIn 1703 two articles appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Society, authored by an unnamed gentleman. The articles, with deference to Leeuwenhoeck, described recent observations made with a microscope. Clifford Dobell, in his biography of Leeuwenhoeck, remarked at length on the extraordinary quality of the illustrations and descriptions of "animalcules". He declared the anonymous author to be the scion and master draughtsman of Leeuwenhoeck's followers. Still today, one of the illustrations is credited with being the first unambiguou...
Source: Protist - August 8, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
A Transcriptome-based Perspective of Meiosis in Dinoflagellates
Publication date: Available online 1 August 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): David MorseThere is increasing interest in the possibility of sexual recombination in dinoflagellates, especially those symbiotic with coral, since recombination may be able to augment genetic diversity and reduce levels of coral bleaching. Several previous studies have addressed this in Symbiodinium by querying sequence databanks with a list of 51 genes termed a meiosis detection toolkit. Here, we have constructed an expanded list of 307 genes involved in meiosis in budding yeast. We find the genes involved in the major regulatory steps in yeast mei...
Source: Protist - August 2, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Editorial Board
Publication date: July 2019Source: Protist, Volume 170, Issue 3Author(s): (Source: Protist)
Source: Protist - July 21, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Integrated Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Peridinin Dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae Plastid
We present evidence that antisense transcripts are produced within the A. carterae plastid, but show that these transcripts undergo different end cleavage events from sense transcripts, and do not receive 3' poly(U) tails. The difference in processing events between sense and antisense transcripts may enable the removal of non-coding transcripts from peridinin dinoflagellate plastid transcript pools. (Source: Protist)
Source: Protist - July 6, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
The Dancing Star: Reinvestigation of Artodiscus saltans (Variosea, Amoebozoa) Penard 1890
We present morphological data for A. saltans from different aquatic habitats of four European countries. We subjected three cells of one strain from Germany to molecular analyses and, interestingly, obtained six different rDNA sequences. Phylogenetic analyses of these SSU rDNA sequences revealed that A. saltans branches close to the amoebozoan Multicilia marina (Variosea, Amoebozoa). (Source: Protist)
Source: Protist - June 22, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
From the Popularization of Microscopy in the Victorian Age: A Lesson for Today’s “Outreach”
Publication date: July 2019Source: Protist, Volume 170, Issue 3Author(s): John R. DolanIn the latter half of the Victorian Age (1837–1901) microscopy was introduced as popular past-time. Many books were published aimed at general audiences, both adult and juvenile, on microscopy. Here I consider 5 of these popular books of particular interest to protistologists as they included presentations of ‘infusoria’ or ‘animalcules’. I focus on the scientific backgrounds of the authors, from what we know of them, and the approaches taken to engage the reader based on their texts and illustrations. The possible lesson to be...
Source: Protist - June 13, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Editorial Board
Publication date: April 2019Source: Protist, Volume 170, Issue 2Author(s): (Source: Protist)
Source: Protist - May 28, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Metabolic Consequences of Cobalamin Scarcity in the Diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana as Revealed Through Metabolomics
Publication date: Available online 28 May 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): Katherine R. Heal, Natalie A. Kellogg, Laura T. Carlson, Regina M. Lionheart, Anitra E. IngallsAbstractDiatoms perform an estimated 20% of global photosynthesis, form the base of the marine food web, and sequester carbon into the deep ocean through the biological pump. In some areas of the ocean, diatom growth is limited by the micronutrient cobalamin (vitamin B12), yet the biochemical ramifications of cobalamin limitation are not well understood. In a laboratory setting, we grew the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana under replete and low cobalamin condi...
Source: Protist - May 28, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
From the Popularization of Microscopy in the Victorian Age: A Lesson for Today's “Outreach”
Publication date: Available online 25 May 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): John R. DolanIn the latter half of the Victorian Age (1837–1901) microscopy was introduced as popular past-time. Many books were published aimed at general audiences, both adult and juvenile, on microscopy. Here I consider 5 of these popular books of particular interest to protistologists as they included presentations of 'infusoria' or 'animalcules'. I focus on the scientific backgrounds of the authors, from what we know of them, and the approaches taken to engage the reader based on their texts and illustrations. The possible lesson to be drawn fro...
Source: Protist - May 26, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Cosmopolitan Metapopulations?
Publication date: Available online 10 May 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): Tom Fenchel, Bland J. Finlay, Genoveva F. Esteban (Source: Protist)
Source: Protist - May 11, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Acidocalcisomes: Ultrastructure, Biogenesis, and Distribution in Microbial Eukaryotes
This report describes acidocalcisomes that were snap-frozen in living cells, primarily the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and then fractured and etched (QFDEEM). Polyphosphate granules prove to be uncommon in log-phase C. reinhardtii cells and abundant in stressed cells, where they are also found within autophagy-related vacuoles. Their E (ectoplasmic) fracture face adopts a unique rugose morphology with etching, and displays ∼14 nm globular domains in broken cell preparations. Using etched membrane morphology as a guide, acidocalcisomes were identified during assembly in the trans-Golgi and were recognized i...
Source: Protist - May 10, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Filter-feeding in Colonial Protists
Publication date: Available online 2 May 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): Tom FenchelMany protists form cell colonies. Among them several are filter-feeders depending on suspended food particles such as bacteria. It has been suggested that the formation of colonies enhances feeding efficiency and implied that − in the case of colonial choanoflagellates − it was an adaptive trait that led to the evolution of metazoans. Here it is shown experimentally − for a colonial peritrich ciliate and for a choanoflagellate − that colony-formation does not enhance the efficiency of filter-feeding relative to solitary cells and that...
Source: Protist - May 4, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Morphological, Ultrastructural, Motility and Evolutionary Characterization of Two New Hemistasiidae Species
Publication date: Available online 13 April 2019Source: ProtistAuthor(s): Galina Prokopchuk, Daria Tashyreva, Akinori Yabuki, Aleš Horák, Petra Masařová, Julius LukešUntil now, Hemistasia phaeocysticola was the only representative of the monogeneric family Hemistasiidae available in culture. Here we describe two new axenized hemistasiids isolated from Tokyo Bay, Japan. Like in other diplonemids, cellular organization of these heterotrophic protists is characterized by a distinct apical papilla, a tubular cytopharynx contiguous with a deep flagellar pocket, and a highly branched mitochondrion with lamellar cristae. Bot...
Source: Protist - April 13, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
