The New Genus Caulinema Revealed New Insights into the Generic Relationship of the Order Ulotrichales (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta)

Abstract

Traditionally, the order Ulotrichales comprised green algae of an unbranched, uniseriate, filamentous morphology. However, since the establishment of ultrastructural features, the circumscription of this order has dramatically changed. Some genera and species have been excluded from this order and others with different morphologies (sarcinoid, branched filaments or even parenchymatous taxa) have been included. Phylogenetic analyses have confirmed the monophyly of this order, but its differentiation from the Ulvales and Acrosiphoniales remains difficult because of the lack of synapomorphies at every level (morphology, molecular signatures). To demonstrate the difficulties of placement into genera and orders, we investigated two sarcinoid taxa with the absence of zoospore formation. SSU and ITS rDNA tree topology and the ITS-2/CBC approach revealed that both strains SAG 2661 and CCAP 312/1 belong to Ulosarcina terrestrica and the newly erected genus Caulinema, respectively. The species conception using this approach was evaluated by sequencing the plastid-coding gene tufA, a commonly used barcode marker for green algae. All three molecular markers resulted in similar topologies at the generic and species levels, which is consistent with the ITS-2/CBC approach and tufA for barcoding. The reevaluation of the ultrastructural features revealed that the presence of organic scales on the surfaces of motile cells is characteristic for the order Ulotrichales and can be used for separation from the closely related orders. As a consequence of our study, we propose the new genus Caulinema for strain CCAP 312/1.