elSSN : 2234-8190
elSSN : 2234-8190
elSSN : 2234-8190
Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Two Newly Recorded Plagiopylean Ciliate Species from South Korea
Novia Cahyani, Uzma Sahr, Mann Kyoon Shin*
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea
Two brackish estuarine plagiopylean ciliate species, Parasonderia vestita and Plagiopyla ovata, were identified during survey of ciliates in low-oxygen habitats. These species have not been previously recorded in Korea. We examined their morphology by microscopic observations of live and protargol-impregnated specimens and analyzed the small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) sequence to infer their phylogeny. Parasonderia vestita is diagnosed by the following characteristics: body size of 50-78 × 28-44 μm in vivo; oval mouth opening sub-apically located; four circle kineties with 13-14 ventral and 11-14 dorsal somatic kineties; oral ciliatures composed of 14-17 prebuccal, 6-7 parabuccal, 12-14 postbuccal, and 10-13 intrabuccal polykineties. Plagiopyla ovata is diagnosed by followings: body size of 64-100 × 34-50 μm in vivo; tube-like buccal cavity covers 72-88% of body width in vivo; 55-80 somatic kineties; spherical micronucleus, 3-5 μm in diameter; distance from anterior cell end to the upper oral lip covers 25% of body length; dense ciliary kinetids arrangement above oral region. The SSU rDNA phylogeny confirms the morphological identifications. The Korean population of Parasonderia vestita is clustered together with two Chinese populations with full support (100/1.0, maximum likelihood [ML]/Bayesian inference [BI]), with 99.8% and 100% nucleotide similarity, respectively. Similarly, the Korean population of Plagiopyla ovata is firmly clustered with a Chinese population and ten congeners of Plagiopyla with full support (100/1.0, ML/BI). The Korean and Chinese populations of P. ovata share 99.8% nucleotide similarity.
anaerobic ciliates, brackish estuarine, Parasonderia, Plagiopyla, SSU rDNA