Protistology • 14 (1), 15–22 (2020) |
Predatory flagellates – the new recently discovered deep branches of the eukaryotic tree and their evolutionary and ecological significance |
Denis V. Tikhonenkov Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, 152742, Russia | Submitted March 20, 2020 | Accepted April 6, 2020 | Summary Predatory protists are poorly studied, while often representing important deep-branching evolutionary lineages and new eukaryotic supergroups. This short review/opinion paper is inspired by the recent discoveries of various predatory flagellates, which form groups sister to the giant eukaryotic clusters on phylogenetic trees, and illustrate an ancestral state of one or another supergroup of eukaryotes. Here we discuss their evolutionary and ecological importance and show that the study of such protists may be essential in addressing previously puzzling evolutionary problems, such as the origin of multicellular animals, the plastid spread trajectory, origins of photosynthesis and parasitism, evolution of mitochondrial genomes.
Key words: evolution of eukaryotes, heterotrophic flagellates, mitochondrial genome, origin of animals, photosynthesis, predatory protists,
tree of life
Address for correspondence: Denis V. Tikhonenkov. Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok 152742, Russia; e-mail: tikho-denis@yandex.ru |
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