Journal of Molecular Evolution

, Volume 43, Issue 5, pp 476–483 | Cite as

Large-subunit rRNA sequence of the chytridiomyceteBlastocladiella emersonii, and implications for the evolution of zoosporic fungi

  • Gert Van der Auwera
  • Rupert De Wachter
Articles
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Accepted:

Abstract

The 5.8S and 28S ribosomal RNA sequences of the chytridiomyceteBlastocladiella emersonii were determined. These data were combined with 18S rRNA sequences in order to carry out a phylogenetic analysis based on distance matrix, parsimony, and maximum likelihood methods. The new data confirmed that chytridiomycetes are true fungi and not protists, as was already suggested on the basis of biochemical, ultrastructural, and 18S rRNA data. Within the fungal clade,B. emersonii formed the first line of divergence. The position of the fungi within the eukaryotic “crown” taxa was also reassessed, and the alveolate-stramenopile cluster appeared as their sister group. The stramenopiles also comprise a number of zoosporic fungi, which resemble chytridiomycetes in so many respects, e.g., production of motile spores, thallus morphology, and absorptive nutrition, that they have been classified together with them in the past. This suggests that the possible common ancestor of the fungi, stramenopiles, and alveolates may have been a zoosporic fungus, which would mean that zoosporic fungi are paraphyletic instead of polyphyletic as previously suggested.

Key words

Chytridiomycetes Stramenopiles Alveolates Fungi Mastigomycetes rRNA phylogeny Blastocladiella emersonii 

Abbreviations

SSU rRNA

small-subunit rRNA, viz. 18S rRNA

LSU rRNA

large-subunit rRNA, viz. 5.8S and 28S rRNA

PCR

polymerase chain reaction

MUCL

Mycothéque de l'Université Catholique de Louvain

ATCC

American Type Culture Collection

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1996

Authors and Affiliations

  • Gert Van der Auwera
    • 1
  • Rupert De Wachter
    • 1
  1. 1.Departement BiochemieUniversiteit Antwerpen (UIA)AntwerpenBelgium

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