The analysis of 100 genes supports the grouping of three highly divergent amoebae: Dictyostelium, Entamoeba, and Mastigamoeba.

ABSTRACT: The phylogenetic relationships of amoebae are poorly resolved. To address this difficult question, we have sequenced 1,280 expressed sequence tags from Mastigamoeba balamuthi and assembled a large data set containing 123 genes for representatives of three phenotypically highly divergent major amoeboid lineages: Pelobionta, Entamoebidae, and Mycetozoa. Phylogenetic reconstruction was performed on approximately 25,000 aa positions for 30 species by using maximum-likelihood approaches. All well-established eukaryotic groups were recovered with high statistical support, validating our approach. Interestingly, the three amoeboid lineages strongly clustered together in agreement with the Conosa hypothesis [as defined by T. Cavalier-Smith (1998) Biol. Rev. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 73, 203-266]. Two

SUBMITTER: Bapteste E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC122205 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature