Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Super-Resolution Microscopy of the Synaptonemal Complex Within the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline
Published on: September 13, 2022
Comparison of the evolutionary distances among syngens and sibling species of Paramecium
Manabu Hori1, Izumi Tomikawa, Ewa Przyboś
1Biological Institute, Faculty of Science, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8512, Japan. mhori@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
The morphospecies of the genus Paramecium have several mating type groups, so-called syngens, composed of cells of complementary mating types. The Paramecium aurelia complex is composed of 15 sibling species assigned to the species from the syngen. To increase our understanding of the evolutionary relationships among syngen and sibling species of the genus Paramecium, we investigated the gene sequences of cytosol-type hsp70 from 7 syngens of Paramecium caudatum and 15 sibling species of P. aurelia. Molecular phylogenetic trees indicated that the P. aurelia complex could be divided into four lineages and separated into each sibling species. However, we did not find any obvious genetic distance among syngens of P. caudatum, and they could only be separated into two closely related groups. These results indicated that the concept of syngens in P. caudatum differs quite markedly from that of the P. aurelia complex. In addition, we also discuss the relationships among these species and other species, Paramecium jenningsi and Paramecium multimicronucleatum, which were once classified as varieties of P. aurelia.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral chromosome underwent...
Phylogenetic Species Concept in Microbiology
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Microbial Phylogeny
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
In contrast, regions which code...
Comparing Mitochondrial, Chloroplast, and Prokaryotic Genomes

