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Choanoflagellatea

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Handbook of the Protists

Abstract

Choanoflagellates are a group of unicellular and colonial heterotrophic flagellates within the Opisthokonta. The characteristic choanoflagellate cell morphology, present in all species, is an ovoid to round protoplast with one apical flagellum surrounded by a collar of microvilli. Phylogenetic studies indicate that choanoflagellates are the closest known living relatives of animals, which has led to a focus on this group to reconstruct the history of animal evolution. Choanoflagellates display a worldwide distribution from the Arctic to Antarctica, in fresh, marine, and brackish water, and they have also been detected in soil ecosystems. In aquatic habitats they play an essential role in the microbial food web as highly efficient filter feeders. Historically, choanoflagellate taxonomy has been based on morphological features, but recent molecular sequence data have refined the taxonomy and revealed several prominent discrepancies. All choanoflagellates belong to one of two sister groups: the Acanthoecida, which construct a siliceous extracellular structure known as a lorica, and the Craspedida, which lack a lorica but may possess an organic extracellular structure called a theca. The loricate Acanthoecida are comprised of two well-described subgroups, distinguished by characteristic differences in how their loricae are constructed: the Acanthoecidae, or nudiforms, and the Stephanoecidae, or tectiforms. To date, two choanoflagellate genomes have been sequenced, both craspedids: Monosiga brevicollis and Salpingoeca rosetta. The life cycle of S. rosetta has been most thoroughly characterized, with sexual and asexual phases, sessile thecate single cells, slow and fast free-swimming cells with distinct morphologies, and both chain and rosette colony types.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a revision of the chapter on choanoflagellates originally written by Kurt Buck for the first edition of this book. We thank Kurt Buck, Sergey Karpov, Barry Leadbeater, Martha Powell, Alastair Simpson, and Helge Thomsen for providing critical comments on this revised chapter. D.J.R. was supported by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowship from the United States Department of Defense, a National Science Foundation Central Europe Summer Research Institute Fellowship, a Chang-Lin Tien Fellowship in Environmental Sciences and Biodiversity, a postdoctoral fellowship from the Conseil Régional de Bretagne, and the French Government “Investissements d’Avenir” program OCEANOMICS (ANR-11-BTBR-0008).

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  1. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680, Roscoff, France

    Daniel J. Richter

  2. Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680, Roscoff, France

    Daniel J. Richter

  3. General Ecology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Frank Nitsche

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  1. Daniel J. Richter
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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    John M. Archibald

  2. Department of Biology Life Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Alastair G.B. Simpson

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Mole, Dalhousie University Department of Biochemistry and Mole, HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Claudio H. Slamovits

  4. Ashland, Oregon, USA

    Lynn Margulis

  5. Biozentrum Köln, Universität zu Köln Biozentrum Köln, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Michael Melkonian

  6. Dept. Ecology, Evolution, Marine Biology, University of California Dept. Ecology, Evolution, Marine Biology, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    David J. Chapman

  7. Libertyville, Illinois, USA

    John O. Corliss

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Richter, D.J., Nitsche, F. (2016). Choanoflagellatea. In: Archibald, J., et al. Handbook of the Protists. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_5-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_5-1

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