Apicomplexan-like parasites are polyphyletic and widely but selectively dependent on cryptic plastid organelles.

ABSTRACT: The phylum Apicomplexa comprises human pathogens such as Plasmodium but is also an under-explored hotspot of evolutionary diversity central to understanding the origins of parasitism and non-photosynthetic plastids. We generated single-cell transcriptomes for all major apicomplexan groups lacking large-scale sequence data. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that apicomplexan-like parasites are polyphyletic and their similar morphologies emerged convergently at least three times. Gregarines and eugregarines are monophyletic, against most expectations, and rhytidocystids and Eleutheroschizon are sister lineages to medically important taxa. Although previously unrecognized, plastids in deep-branching apicomplexans are common, and they contain some of the most divergent and AT-rich ge

SUBMITTER: Janouskovec J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6733595 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature