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Evaluating the evolution of G. lamblia based on the small nucleolar RNAs identified from Archaea and unicellular eukaryotes

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Abstract

The evolutionary position of Giardia lamblia has been challenged in recent years. Comparison of the snoRNAs identified from Archaea and unicellular eukaryotes shows that G. lamblia snoRNAs are more similar in most respects to the counterparts identified from Dictyostelium discoideum, Plasmodium falciparum, fungi, and some metazoans, remarkably differently from those of Euglenozoa protozoans. We propose that G. lamblia emerged somewhat later than Trypanosoma and Euglena during the early evolution of “excavata” eukaryotes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the critical review by Dr. Norman A. Gregson (University of London, UK). We apologize to those whose important work could not be cited owing to space constraints. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30570398 and 30870530) and the National Basic Research Program (2005CB724600).

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Correspondence to Liang-Hu Qu.

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Luo, J., Teng, M., Zhang, GP. et al. Evaluating the evolution of G. lamblia based on the small nucleolar RNAs identified from Archaea and unicellular eukaryotes. Parasitol Res 104, 1543–1546 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-009-1403-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-009-1403-3

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