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Major ontogenetic transitions during Volvox (Chlorophyta) evolution: when and where might they have occurred?

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Abstract

This paper represents an attempt to unify data from various lines of Volvox research: developmental biology, biogeography, and evolution. Several species (such as Volvox carteri and Volvox spermatosphaera) are characterized by rapid divisions of asexual reproductive cells, which may proceed in darkness. By contrast, several other species (such as Volvox aureus, Volvox globator, and Volvox tertius) exhibit slow and light/dependent divisions. The transition from the former pattern of asexual life cycle to the latter one has occurred in three lineages of the genus Volvox. Since V. aureus (unlike V. carteri) is able to complete the life cycle at a short photoperiod (8 h light/16 h dark regime), it is reasonable to suggest that the abovementioned evolutionary transitions might have occurred as adaptations to short winter days in high latitudes under warm climate conditions in the deep past. In the case of the lineage leading to V. tertius + Volvox dissipatrix, the crucial reorganizations of asexual life cycle might have occurred between about 45 and 60 million years ago in relatively high latitudes of Southern Hemisphere.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Matthew Herron (University of Montana, Missoula) for helpful discussion on Volvox phylogeny and comments on an early draft of this paper. My sincere thanks go to an anonymous reviewer who made valuable suggestions.

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  1. Department of Embryology, Saint-Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Alexey G. Desnitskiy

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Correspondence to Alexey G. Desnitskiy.

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Communicated by Angelika Stollewerk

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Desnitskiy, A.G. Major ontogenetic transitions during Volvox (Chlorophyta) evolution: when and where might they have occurred?. Dev Genes Evol 226, 349–354 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-016-0557-0

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