Hwan Su Yoon

The global distribution, abundance, and diversity of microscopic freshwater algae demonstrate an ability to overcome significant barriers such as dry land and oceans by exploiting a range of biotic and abiotic colonization vectors. If these vectors are considered unlimited and colonization occurs in proportion to population size, then globally ubiquitous distributions are predicted to arise. This model contrasts with observations that many freshwater microalgal taxa possess true biogeographies. Here, using a concatenated multigene data set, we study the phylogeography of the freshwater heterokont alga Synura petersenii sensu lato. Our results suggest that this Synura morphotaxon contains both cosmopolitan and regionally endemic cryptic species, co‐occurring in some cases, and masked by a common ultrastructural morphology. Phylogenies based on both proteins (seven protein‐coding plastid and mitochondrial genes) and DNA (nine genes including ITS and 18S rDNA) reveal pronounced biogeographic delineations within phylotypes of this cryptic species complex while retaining one clade that is globally distributed. Relaxed molecular clock calculations, constrained by fossil records, suggest that the genus Synura is considerably older than currently proposed. The availability of tectonically relevant geological time (10⁷–10⁸ years) has enabled the development of the observed, complex biogeographic patterns. Our comprehensive analysis of freshwater algal biogeography suggests that neither ubiquity nor endemism wholly explains global patterns of microbial eukaryote distribution and that processes of dispersal remain poorly understood.

The assembly of the tree of life has seen significant progress in recent years but algae and protists have been largely overlooked in this effort. Many groups of algae and protists have ancient roots and it is unclear how much data will be required to resolve their phylogenetic relationships for incorporation in the tree of life. The red algae, a group of primary photosynthetic eukaryotes of more than a billion years old, provide the earliest fossil evidence for eukaryotic multicellularity and sexual reproduction. Despite this evolutionary significance, their phylogenetic relationships are understudied. This study aims to infer a comprehensive red algal tree of life at the family level from a supermatrix containing data mined from GenBank. We aim to locate remaining regions of low support in the topology, evaluate their causes and estimate the amount of data required to resolve them.

Gaining the ability to photosynthesize was a key event in eukaryotic evolution because algae and plants form the base of the food chain on our planet. The eukaryotic machines of photosynthesis are plastids (e.g., chloroplast in plants) that evolved from cyanobacteria through primary endosymbiosis. Our knowledge of plastid evolution, however, remains limited because the primary endosymbiosis occurred more than a billion years ago. In this context, the thecate "green amoeba" Paulinella chromatophora is remarkable because it very recently (i.e., minimum age of ≈ 60 million years ago) acquired a photosynthetic organelle (termed a "chromatophore"; i.e., plastid) via an independent primary endosymbiosis involving a Prochlorococcus or Synechococcus-like cyanobacterium. All data regarding P. chromatophora stem from a single isolate from Germany (strain M0880/a). Here we brought into culture a novel photosynthetic Paulinella strain (FK01) and generated molecular sequence data from these cells and from four different cell samples, all isolated from freshwater habitats in Japan. Our study had two aims. The first was to compare and contrast cell ultrastructure of the M0880/a and FK01 strains using scanning electron microscopy. The second was to assess the phylogenetic diversity of photosynthetic Paulinella to test the hypothesis they share a vertically inherited plastid that originated in their common ancestor.

Background: Our understanding of the eukaryotic tree of life and the tremendous diversity of microbial eukaryotes is in flux as additional genes and diverse taxa are sampled for molecular analyses. Despite instability in many analyses, there is an increasing trend to classify eukaryotic diversity into six major supergroups: the 'Amoebozoa', 'Chromalveolata', 'Excavata', 'Opisthokonta', 'Plantae', and 'Rhizaria'. Previous molecular analyses have often suffered from either a broad taxon sampling using only single-gene data or have used multigene data with a limited sample of taxa. This study has two major aims: (1) to place taxa represented by 72 sequences, 61 of which have not been characterized previously, onto a well-sampled multigene genealogy, and (2) to evaluate the support for the six putative supergroups using two taxon-rich data sets and a variety of phylogenetic approaches. Results: The inferred trees reveal strong support for many clades that also have defining ultrastructural or molecular characters. In contrast, we find limited to no support for most of the putative supergroups as only the 'Opisthokonta' receive strong support in our analyses. The supergroup 'Amoebozoa' has only moderate support, whereas the 'Chromalveolata', 'Excavata', 'Plantae', and 'Rhizaria' receive very limited or no support. Conclusion: Our analytical approach substantiates the power of increased taxon sampling in placing diverse eukaryotic lineages within well-supported clades. At the same time, this study indicates that the six supergroup hypothesis of higher-level eukaryotic classification is likely premature. The use of a taxon-rich data set with 105 lineages, which still includes only a small fraction of the diversity of microbial eukaryotes, fails to resolve deeper phylogenetic relationships and reveals no support for four of the six proposed supergroups. Our analyses provide a point of departure for future taxon- and gene-rich analyses of the eukaryotic tree of life, which will be critical for resolving their phylogenetic interrelationships.