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Establishment of Microbial Eukaryotic Enrichment Cultures from a Chemically Stratified Antarctic Lake and Assessment of Carbon Fixation Potential

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Recent evolutionary diversification of a protist lineage.

Ramiro Logares¹, Niels Daugbjerg, Andrés Boltovskoy

¹Limnology Section, Department of Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden. Ramiro.Logares@limnol.lu.se

Environmental Microbiology

|February 26, 2008

Summary

A recently diversified cold-water dinoflagellate lineage inhabits diverse marine and lacustrine environments. Despite low nuclear DNA variation, mitochondrial DNA reveals significant polymorphism, indicating recent adaptive radiation.

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Establishment of Microbial Eukaryotic Enrichment Cultures from a Chemically Stratified Antarctic Lake and Assessment of Carbon Fixation Potential

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Area of Science:

Marine biology
Evolutionary biology
Protistology

Background:

Dinoflagellates are diverse protists with significant ecological roles.
Cold-water habitats harbor unique microbial communities with distinct evolutionary histories.
Understanding protist diversification is key to comprehending marine and freshwater ecosystem dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evolutionary history and diversification of a recently identified cold-water dinoflagellate lineage.
To analyze genetic variation across different environmental conditions (salinity, habitat type).
To determine phylogenetic relationships with related dinoflagellate groups.

Main Methods:

Analysis of 30 dinoflagellate strains from cold-water environments.
Generation of 55 new DNA sequences, focusing on nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) and mitochondrial cytochrome b (COB) DNA.
Phylogenetic analyses using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference.

Main Results:

Low genetic differentiation observed in nrDNA sequences across all analyzed isolates.
High polymorphism detected in COB mitochondrial DNA, contrasting with slow COB evolution in dinoflagellates.
Phylogenetic analyses confirmed a monophyletic group of cold-water dinoflagellates related to Pfiesteria species.

Conclusions:

The studied dinoflagellates represent a recently diversified lineage that has successfully colonized diverse, low-temperature environments.
Long-distance dispersal across marine and lacustrine habitats with varying salinities has occurred.
Environmental heterogeneity and varied natural selection regimes likely promoted this evolutionary diversification.