Abstract
This study investigated the taxonomic affiliation of the algal strain nak-9, which has been reported to absorb radioactive cesium with high efficiency, using light and electron microscopy, and molecular phylogenetic analysis based on 18S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) sequences. This alga is spherical and coccoid, with a smooth cell wall, large vacuole, crystalline structure, reddish globule, and refractile granules (lamellate vesicles). The cells possess one to several greenish parietal chloroplasts with a bulging pyrenoid surrounded by lamellate vesicles. The chloroplasts include orderly thylakoid lamellae but no girdle lamella. Molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that strain nak-9 is a member of the eustigmatophycean clade, which includes Goniochloris, Pseudostaurastrum, and Trachydiscus. On the basis of these results, we propose that strain nak-9 (NIES-2860) comprises a new species and new genus of the Eustigmatophyceae, Vacuoliviride crystalliferum gen. et sp. nov.
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We thank Prof. Yoshihiro Shiraiwa and Dr. Koji Iwamoto (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba) for their valuable advice.
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T. Nakayama and A. Nakamura have contributed equally to this work.
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Nakayama, T., Nakamura, A., Yokoyama, A. et al. Taxonomic study of a new eustigmatophycean alga, Vacuoliviride crystalliferum gen. et sp. nov.. J Plant Res 128, 249–257 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-014-0686-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-014-0686-3