Premium
Phenology of cryptomonads and the CRY1 lineage in a coastal brackish lagoon (Vistula Lagoon, Baltic Sea)
Author(s) -
Piwosz Kasia,
Kownacka Janina,
Ameryk Anetta,
Zalewski Mariusz,
Pernthaler Jakob
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.12424
Subject(s) - biology , brackish water , lineage (genetic) , clade , plastid , ecology , salinity , botany , zoology , phylogenetics , gene , biochemistry , chloroplast
Cryptomonadales have acquired their plastids by secondary endosymbiosis. A novel clade— CRY 1—has been discovered at the base of the Cryptomonadales tree, but it remains unknown whether it contains plastids. Cryptomonadales are also an important component of phytoplankton assemblages. However, they cannot be readily identified in fixed samples, and knowledge on dynamics and distribution of specific taxa is scarce. We investigated the phenology of the CRY 1 lineage, three cryptomonadales clades and a species Proteomonas sulcata in a brackish lagoon of the Baltic Sea (salinity 0.3–3.9) using fluorescence in situ hybridization. A newly design probe revealed that specimens of the CRY 1 lineage were aplastidic. This adds evidence against the chromalveolate hypothesis, and suggests that the evolution of cryptomonadales’ plastids might have been shorter than is currently assumed. The CRY 1 lineage was the most abundant cryptomonad clade in the lagoon. All of the studied cryptomonads peaked in spring at the most freshwater station, except for P. sulcata that peaked in summer and autumn. Salinity and concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen most significantly affected their distribution and dynamics. Our findings contribute to the ecology and evolution of cryptomonads, and may advance understanding of evolutionary relationships within the eukaryotic tree of life.