Protein Coding Gene Trees in Ciliates: Comparison with rRNA-Based Phylogenies

✍ Scribed by Anne Baroin Tourancheau; Eduardo Villalobo; Nora Tsao; Antonio Torres; Ronald E. Pearlman

• Book ID: 102615801
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 189 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1055-7903
• DOI: 10.1006/mpev.1998.0534

✦ Synopsis

We have reexamined the phylogeny of the ciliates using ␣-tubulin and phosphoglycerate kinase gene sequences. For ␣-tubulin, we have compared the amino acid and nucleotide sequences of 20 species representing seven of the nine classes of the phylum (Karyorelictea, Heterotrichea, Hypotrichea, Oligohymenophorea, Colpodea, Nassophorea, and Litostomatea). The phylogenetic tree resembles a bush from which three monophyletic lineages can be distinguished which correspond to the three classes Hypotrichea, Oligohymenophorea, and Litostomatea. For phosphoglycerate kinase, we have compared the amino acid sequences from 7 species representing three classes (Heterotrichea, Hypotrichea, and Oligohymenophorea). The branching pattern is resolved in three deeply separated branches with an early emergence of the heterotrich. Our comparative analysis shows that if ␣-tubulin phylogeny is not informative at the interclass level, the preliminary data from the phosphoglycerate kinase molecule appear more promising. Nevertheless, at low taxonomic level and at the class level, the resolved phylogenetic relationships inferred from both protein and rRNA sequence data are congruent. 1998 Academic Press