Aurigamonas

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Aurigamonas
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Phylum: Cercozoa
Class: Sarcomonadea
Order: Glissomonadida
Suborder: Pansomonadina
Family: Aurigamonadidae
Cavalier-Smith, 2012 [1]
Genus: Aurigamonas
Vickerman, 2005 [2]
Species:
A. solis
Binomial name
Aurigamonas solis
Vickerman, 2005

Aurigamonas is a genus of predatory protists of an unusual cell structure, with two flagella and numerous haptopodia. It is a monotypic genus containing the single species Aurigamonas solis. [2] It is the only genus of the family Aurigamonadidae. [1]

Contents

Etymology

The genus name comes from the Latin Auriga, meaning charioteer, as a reference to the rein-like motion of the posterior flagellum. The species epithet comes from the Latin solis, meaning sun, due to the Greek legend of the sun being drawn across the heavens by a charioteer. [2]

Morphology and movement

Aurigamonas are unicellular zooflagellates with a spherical to ovoid shape (3–18 μm in diameter). Their most striking characteristic are the numerous long stiff haptopodia (around 30 to 50, each around 6 μm in length) radiating from the cell body, supported by microfilaments and tipped by a dense haptosome. [1] They bear two cilia: the posterior, long and used for propulsion (9–52 μm), that beats in sinuous waves from the base; and the anterior, short and not motile (4–8 μm). They have two contractile vacuoles next to the flagellar bases and the nucleus. [2] They glide only on the distal segment of their posterior cilium. [1]

Ecology and behavior

Aurigamonas are soil-dwelling protists that prey on eukaryotic protozoa of very different sizes, and possibly bacteria. Their prey is captured by adhesion to haptopodia. At least three modes of ingestion have been distinguished: [2] [1]

  1. Phagocytosis of entire protists (such as Bodo saltans ).
  2. Myzocytosis of parts of the cytoplasm of large prey (such as Euglena gracilis ).
  3. Trawling of bacteria attached to the substrate by extending a large lamellipodium.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cercozoa</span> Group of single-celled organisms

Cercozoa is a phylum of diverse single-celled eukaryotes. They lack shared morphological characteristics at the microscopic level, and are instead united by molecular phylogenies of rRNA and actin or polyubiquitin. They were the first major eukaryotic group to be recognized mainly through molecular phylogenies. They are the natural predators of many species of bacteria. They are closely related to the phylum Retaria, comprising amoeboids that usually have complex shells, and together form a supergroup called Rhizaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cercomonad</span> Order of single-celled organisms

Cercomonads are small amoeboflagellates, widespread in aqueous habitats and common in soils.

Carpediemonas is genus of Metamonada, and belongs to the group Excavata. This organism is a unicellular flagellated eukaryote that was first discovered in substrate samples from the Great Barrier Reef. Carpediemonas can be found in anaerobic intertidal sediment, where it feeds on bacteria. A feature of this species is the presence of a feeding groove, a characteristic of the excavates. Like most other metamonads, Carpediemonas does not rely on an aerobic mitochondrion to produce energy. Instead, it contains hydrogenosomes that are used to produce ATP. This organism has two flagella: a posterior one used for feeding on the substrate, and an anterior one that moves in a slower sweeping motion. Carpediemonas is assigned to the fornicates, where similar Carpediemonas-like organisms are used in researching the evolution within excavates. Although Carpediemonas is a member of the metamonads, it is unusual in the sense that it is free-living and has three basal bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcomonadea</span> Class of flagellate protists

The sarcomonads or class Sarcomonadea are a group of amoeboid biciliate protists in the phylum Cercozoa. They are characterized by a propensity to move through gliding on their posterior cilium or through filopodia, a lack of scales or external theca, a soft cell surface without obvious cortical filamentous or membranous skeleton, two cilia without scales or hairs, tubular mitochondrial cristae, near-spherical extrusomes, and a microbody attached to the nucleus.

<i>Katabia</i> Genus of heterotrophic protists

Katabia is a genus of soil-dwelling heterotrophic flagellate cercozoans containing the single species Katabia gromovi, and the only member of family Katabiidae.

<i>Parvilucifera</i> Genus of single-celled organisms

Parvilucifera is a genus of marine alveolates that behave as endoparasites of dinoflagellates. It was described in 1999 by biologists Fredrik Norén and Øjvind Moestrup, who identified the genus among collections of Dinophysis dinoflagellates off the coast of Sweden. Initially mistaken for products of sexual reproduction, the round bodies found within these collections were eventually recognized as sporangia, spherical structures that generate zoospores of a parasitic protist. This organism was later identified as P. infectans, the type species. The examination of this organism and its close genetic relationship to Perkinsus led to the creation of the Perkinsozoa phylum within the Alveolata group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampyrellida</span> Order of single-celled organisms

The vampyrellids, colloquially known as vampire amoebae, are a group of free-living predatory amoebae classified as part of the lineage Endomyxa. They are distinguished from other groups of amoebae by their irregular cell shape with propensity to fuse and split like plasmodial organisms, and their life cycle with a digestive cyst stage that digests the gathered food. They appear worldwide in marine, brackish, freshwater and soil habitats. They are important predators of an enormous variety of microscopic organisms, from algae to fungi and animals. They are also known as aconchulinid amoebae.

<i>Kraken</i> (Cercozoa) Genus of single-celled organisms

Kraken is a genus of amoebae within the Cercozoa, containing the sole species Kraken carinae. These amoebae are characterized by a small round cell body and a network of thin and very long filopodia that can reach up to a mm in diameter. Kraken amoebae feed on bacteria and live in freshwater and soil systems.

Colponema is a genus of single-celled flagellates that feed on eukaryotes in aquatic environments and soil. The genus contains 6 known species and has not been thoroughly studied. Colponema has two flagella which originate just below the anterior end of the cell. One extends forwards and the other runs through a deep groove in the surface and extends backwards. Colponema is a predator that feeds on smaller flagellates using its ventral groove. Like many other alveolates, they possess trichocysts, tubular mitochondrial cristae, and alveoli. It has been recently proposed that Colponema may be the sister group to all other alveolates. The genus could help us understand the origin of alveolates and shed light on features that are ancestral to all eukaryotes.

Neocercomonas is a protist genus of the order Cercomonadida. It consists of single-celled bacteriophagous organisms that usually live on or nearby terrestrial plants, both above and belowground. Species are biflagellate and may grow up to 60 micrometers long, with a trailing tail-like mass of protoplasm at their posterior end and a pair of roots connecting their posterior flagellum to the cytoskeleton.

<i>Vampyrella lateritia</i> Species of protist

Vampyrella lateritia is a freshwater species of predatory amoebae that feeds on species of algae and is known for its specialized feeding strategy of removing, digesting, and ingesting the cellular contents of its prey. It is the type species of the genus Vampyrella and has been identified in numerous locations around the world including Brazil, Germany, and the eastern United States. Along with Vampyrella pendula, its genome was sequenced in 2012.

Mesofila is a genus of freshwater heterotrophic protists of the phylum Cercozoa. It is the only genus in the family Mesofilidae. It is a monotypic genus, with the sole species M. limnetica.

Minimassisteria is a marine bacterivorous genus of protists with only one species, M. diva, that presents three different lifestyle forms. It has a widespread geographic distribution. It is an amoeboflagellate most closely related to Massisteria, and together comprise the family Massisteriidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glissomonadida</span> Order of protists

The glissomonads are a group of bacterivorous gliding flagellated protists that compose the order Glissomonadida, in the amoeboflagellate phylum Cercozoa. They comprise a vast, largely undescribed diversity of soil and freshwater organisms. They are the sister group to cercomonads; the two orders form a solid clade of gliding soil-dwelling flagellates called Pediglissa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viridiraptoridae</span> Family of predatorial protists

Viridiraptoridae, previously known as clade X, is a clade of heterotrophic protists in the phylum Cercozoa. They're a family of glissomonads, a group containing a vast, mostly undescribed diversity of soil and freshwater organisms.

<i>Orciraptor</i> Genus of predatorial protists

Orciraptor is a genus of heterotrophic protists, containing the single species Orciraptor agilis. It belongs to the family Viridiraptoridae, in the phylum Cercozoa.

Viridiraptor is a genus of heterotrophic protists, containing the single species Viridiraptor invadens. It belongs to the family Viridiraptoridae, in the phylum Cercozoa.

The pansomonads, suborder Pansomonadina, are a group of heterotrophic protists that belong to the phylum Cercozoa. Some of them are helioflagellates, with characteristics of heliozoans and amoebo-flagellates.

Helkesida is a group of microscopic protists belonging to the supergroup Rhizaria, both discovered through molecular phylogenetic analyses. It contains amoeboid flagellates with two flagella. They are either free-living, mostly on fecal matter, or live inside the gut of animals. Among these amoebae, one lineage has independently evolved aggregative multicellularity similarly to slime moulds.

Limnofila is a genus of heterotrophic protists that live in freshwater habitats and feed on bacteria. They are also present in the soil ecosystem, where they play an important role as predators of bacteria. They are classified as a single family Limnofilidae and order Limnofilida.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Cavalier-Smith T, Oates B (2012). "Ultrastructure of Allapsa vibrans and the Body Plan of Glissomonadida (Cercozoa)". Protist. 163 (2): 165–187. doi:10.1016/j.protis.2011.10.006.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Vickerman K, Appleton PL, Clarke KJ, Moreira D (2005). "Aurigamonas solis n. gen., n. sp., a soil-dwelling predator with unusual helioflagellate organisation and belonging to a novel clade within the Cercozoa". Protist. 156 (3): 335–354. doi:10.1016/j.protis.2005.07.003. PMID   16325545.