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Molecular phylogeny of Zeacarpa (Ralfsiales, Phaeophyceae) proposing a new family Zeacarpaceae and its transfer to Nemodermatales
Author(s) -
Kawai Hiroshi,
Hanyuda Takeaki,
Bolton John,
Anderson Robert
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1111/jpy.12419
Subject(s) - biology , crustose , pyrenoid , brown algae , phylogenetics , phylogenetic tree , thallus , botany , algae , chloroplast dna , taxon , chloroplast , molecular phylogenetics , evolutionary biology , gene , genetics
Zeacarpa leiomorpha is a crustose brown alga endemic to South Africa. The species has been tentatively placed in Ralfsiaceae, but its ordinal assignment has been uncertain. The molecular phylogeny of brown algae based on concatenated DNA sequences of seven chloroplast and mitochondrial gene sequences ( atp B , psa A , psa B , psb A , psb C, rbc L, and cox 1) of taxa covering most of the orders revealed the most related phylogenetic relationship of Z. leiomorpha to Nemoderma tingitanum (Nemodermatales) rather than Ralfsiaceae (Ralfsiales). Morphologically, Zeacarpa and Nemoderma share crustose thallus structure and multiple discoidal chloroplasts without pyrenoids in each cell, however, the formation of lateral unilocular zoidangia in tufts in loose upright filaments in Zeacarpa is distinctive in brown algae. Considering the relatively distant genetic divergence between the two taxa, comparable to that among families or orders in representative brown algae, in addition to the above‐mentioned unique morphological features, we propose the classification of Zeacarpa in a new family Zeacarpaceae in the order Nemodermatales.