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Phylogeny, morphology, and physiology of M icractinium strains isolated from shallow ephemeral freshwater in A ntarctica
Author(s) -
Hong Ji Won,
Jo SeungWoo,
Cho HyungWoo,
Nam Seung Won,
Shin Woongghi,
Park Kyung Mok,
Lee Kyoung In,
Yoon HoSung
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
phycological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.438
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1835
pISSN - 1322-0829
DOI - 10.1111/pre.12097
Subject(s) - biology , phylogenetic tree , phylogenetics , genus , polyunsaturated fatty acid , internal transcribed spacer , botany , morphology (biology) , zoology , ribosomal rna , fatty acid , biochemistry , gene
Summary Cryotolerant eukaryotic microalgae were isolated from meltwater streams on Ardley Island and King George Island in A ntarctica, and their morphological, molecular, and physiological characteristics were investigated. Owing to their simple morphology, distinctive characters were not observed with neither light microscopy nor transmission electron microscopy. However, molecular phylogenetic inferences drawn from the concatenated small subunit rRNA and internal transcribed spacer sequence data indicated that these microalgal strains belonged to the genus Micractinium . All the Micractinium strains showed cryotolerant properties, while their optimum growth temperature was around 20°C. Similar to other cryotolerant organisms, these Antarctic microalgae also contained a higher ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids. In this study, new Antarctic Micractinium spp. were discovered and added to the culture collection. These cryotolerant strains may serve as a promising source of nutritionally important linoleic ( C 18:2 ω6) and α‐linolenic ( C 18:3 ω3) acids.