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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2003, p. 5656-5663, Vol. 69, No. 9
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.9.5656-5663.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Novel Eukaryotes from the Permanently Anoxic Cariaco Basin (Caribbean Sea)
Thorsten Stoeck,1 Gordon T. Taylor,2 and Slava S. Epstein1,3*
Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts 01908,1
Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794,2
Biology Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 021153
Received 5 May 2003/
Accepted 18 June 2003
Present knowledge of microbial diversity is decidedly incomplete (S. J. Giovannoni and M. S. Rappé, p. 47-84, in D. Kirchman, ed., Microbial Ecology of the Oceans, 2000; E. Stackebrandt and T. M. Embley, p. 57-75, in R. R. Colwell and D. J. Grimes, ed., Nonculturable Microorganisms in the Environment, 2000). Protistan phylogenies are particularly deficient and undoubtedly exclude clades of principal ecological and evolutionary importance (S. L. Baldauf, Science 300:1703-1706, 2003). The rRNA approach has been extraordinarily successful in expanding the global prokaryotic record (S. J. Giovannoni and M. S. Rappé, p. 47-84, in D. Kirchman, ed., Microbial Ecology of the Oceans, 2000; E. Stackebrandt and T. M. Embley, p. 57-75, in R. R. Colwell and D. J. Grimes, ed., Nonculturable Microorganisms in the Environment, 2000) but has rarely been used in protistan discovery. Here we report the first application of the 18S rRNA approach to a permanently anoxic environment, the Cariaco Basin off the Venezuelan coast. On the basis of rRNA sequences, we uncovered a substantial number of novel protistan lineages. These included new clades of the highest taxonomic level unrelated to any known eukaryote as well as deep branches within established protistan groups. Three novel lineages branch at the base of the eukaryotic evolutionary tree preceding, contemporary with, or immediately following the earliest eukaryotic branches. These newly discovered protists may retain traits reminiscent of an early eukaryotic ancestor(s).
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Northeastern University, Marine Science Center, East Point, Nahant, MA 01908. Phone: (617) 373-4048. Fax: (617) 373-3724. E-mail:
s.epstein{at}neu.edu.
This is contribution no. 250 of the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University, Nahant, Mass.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2003, p. 5656-5663, Vol. 69, No. 9
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.9.5656-5663.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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