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The Korean Society of Phycology (한국조류학회(藻類))
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A chemosystematic investigation of selected Stichococcus-like organisms (Trebouxiophyta)

  • Van, Anh Tu (Department of Applied Ecology and Phycology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock) ;
  • Karsten, Ulf (Department of Applied Ecology and Phycology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock) ;
  • Glaser, Karin (Department of Applied Ecology and Phycology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock)
  • Received : 2021.01.21
  • Accepted : 2021.06.05
  • Published : 2021.06.15
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Abstract

The taxonomy of green microalgae relies traditionally on morphological traits but has been rapidly changing since the advent of molecular methods. Stichococcus Nägeli is a cosmopolitan terrestrial algal genus of the class Trebouxiophyceae that has recently been split into seven lineages, which, along with Pseudostichococcus, comprise the Stichococcuslike group; there is a need to further characterize these genera, since they are morphologically enigmatic. Here we used organic osmolytes as chemotaxonomic marker to verify the phylogenetic position of Stichococcus-like strains and were also able to exclude a strain hitherto identified as Gloeotila contorta from this group. Stichococcus-like organisms, including those recently revised, were characterized by the production of the polyol sorbitol and the disaccharide sucrose in high amounts, as is typical of Prasiola-clade algae. The results demonstrate that organic osmolyte chemotaxonomy can support green algal taxonomic designations as fundamental research.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This cooperation would not have been possible without the generous materials support from Dr. Anna Temraleeva (Algal Collection of Soil Science Institute, Puschchino, Russia), Dr. Pavel Skaloud (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic), Dr. Lira Gaysina (Resource Centre Culture Collection of Microorganisms, St. Petersburg, Russia), Dr. Tatiana Mikhailyuk (M.K. Kholodny Institute of Botany, Kiev, Ukraine) and Dr. Andreas Holzinger (University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria). Many thanks in particular to Dr. Rhena Schumann and Dr. Dirk Michalik at the University of Rostock for guidance in HPLC and NMR methodology. Within the framework of the German Research Foundation Special Priority Project: 1991 Taxon-Omics (CrustAlgaeTax-GL909/1-1), we were able to offer additional and critical data on the taxonomic revision of this genus using a chemotaxonomic approach.

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