Morphology, biology and phylogeny of Phalansterium arcticum sp. n. (Amoebozoa, Variosea), isolated from ancient Arctic permafrost

Lyubov A Shmakova; Sergey A Karpov; Stanislav A Malavin; Alexey V Smirnov

doi:10.1016/j.ejop.2018.02.002

Morphology, biology and phylogeny of Phalansterium arcticum sp. n. (Amoebozoa, Variosea), isolated from ancient Arctic permafrost

Eur J Protistol. 2018 Apr:63:117-129. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2018.02.002. Epub 2018 Mar 3.

Authors

Lyubov A Shmakova¹, Sergey A Karpov², Stanislav A Malavin³, Alexey V Smirnov⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institutskaya 2, 142290, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russian Federation. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 199034, Russian Federation; St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russian Federation.
³ Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institutskaya 2, 142290, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russian Federation.
⁴ St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russian Federation.

PMID: 29574284
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2018.02.002

Abstract

A new species, Phalansterium arcticum sp. n., was isolated from an 8580-year-old Arctic permafrost layer. This organism typically lives as a sedentary uniflagellated cell enclosed in a thin flexible mucilaginous sheath, but can form naked swimming cells and amoeboid cells with eruptive pseudopodia accompanied with the formation of short, filopodia-like projections. In an SSU rDNA phylogenetic tree, it robustly groups with other species of this genus. Along with a description of the species, we also add new details to the description of the cell division of Phalansterium and the feeding process in this organism.

Keywords: Amoebozoa; Molecular phylogeny; Permafrost; Phalansterium; Soil flagellate; Ultrastructure.

MeSH terms

Amoebozoa / classification*
Amoebozoa / cytology*
Amoebozoa / genetics
Arctic Regions
DNA, Protozoan / genetics
Permafrost / parasitology*
Phylogeny*
Species Specificity

Substances

DNA, Protozoan