Eustigmatophyte

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Eustigmatophytes are a small group (17 genera; ~107 species) of eukaryotic forms of algae that includes marine, freshwater and soil-living species.[1][2]

Eustigmatophyte
Nannochloropsis sp.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Clade: Stramenopiles
Phylum: Gyrista
Subphylum: Ochrophytina
Superclass: Limnistia
Class: Eustigmatophyceae
Hibberd & Leedale, 1971
Order
Nannochloropsis sp.

All eustigmatophytes are unicellular, with coccoid cells and polysaccharide cell walls. Eustigmatophytes contain one or more yellow-green chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll a and the accessory pigments violaxanthin and β-carotene. Eustigmatophyte zoids (gametes) possess a single or pair of flagella, originating from the apex of the cell. Unlike other heterokontophytes, eustigmatophyte zoids do not have typical photoreceptive organelles (or eyespots); instead an orange-red eyespot outside a chloroplast is located at the anterior end of the zoid.

Ecologically, eustigmatophytes occur as photosynthetic autotrophs across a range of systems. Most eustigmatophyte genera live in freshwater or in soil, although Nannochloropsis contains marine species of picophytoplankton (2–4 μm).

The class was erected to include some algae previously classified in the Xanthophyceae.[3]

Classification

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Phylogeny

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Phylogeny of Eustigmatophyceae based on the work of Amaral et al 2020[5]

References

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  1. ^ Hoek, C. van den; Mann, D.G.; Jahns, H.M. (1995). Algae : An introduction to phycology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521316873.
  2. ^ Guiry, M.D.; Guiry, G.M. (2016). "Eustigmatales". AlgaeBase. National University of Ireland, Galway.
  3. ^ Hoek, Mann & Jahns 1995, p. 131
  4. ^ Hegewald, E.; Padisák, J.; Friedl, T. (2007). "Pseudotetraëdriella kamillae: taxonomy and ecology of a new member of the algal class Eustigmatophyceae (Stramenopiles)". Hydrobiologia. 586 (1): 107–116. doi:10.1007/s10750-006-0566-5. S2CID 37483551.
  5. ^ Amaral, R.; Fawley, K.P.; Němcová, Y.; Ševčíková, T.; Lukešová, A.; Fawley, M.W.; Santos, L.M.A.; Eliáš, M. (2020). "Toward Modern Classification of Eustigmatophytes, Including the Description of Neomonodaceae Fam. Nov. and Three New Genera". Journal of Phycology. 56 (3): 630–648. Bibcode:2020JPcgy..56..630A. doi:10.1111/jpy.12980. PMC 7987219. PMID 32068883.