Novel morphological and genetic tools to discriminate species among the family Plumatellidae (Phylactolaemata,Bryozoa) |
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Authors: | Andrea Rubini Giorgia Pieroni Antonia Concetta Elia Lorenza Zippilli Francesco Paolocci Maria Illuminata Taticchi |
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Institution: | (1) Plant Genetics Institute—Perugia, National Research Council, Via della Madonna Alta 130, 06128 Perugia, Italy;(2) Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Via Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy;(3) Department of Cellular and Environmental Biology, University of Perugia, Via Elce di sotto, 06123 Perugia, Italy; |
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Abstract: | Some species of the freshwater bryozoans (Bryozoa, Phylactolaemata) belonging to the genus Plumatella are remarkably difficult to identify because of the large similarity of superficial architecture of their statoblasts. The
examination of statoblasts by scanning electron microscope (SEM) has in fact resolved only some taxonomic questions. In this
article, the authors report on novel morphological and molecular traits to discriminate among ten species of Plumatellidae (P. viganoi, P. repens, P. geimermassardi, P. rugosa, P. reticulata, P. casmiana, P. fungosa, P. emarginata, P. vaihiriae, and Hyalinella punctata). The former traits are based on shape, number, and position of annular chamber pores, whereas the latter reside on amplification
and sequence analysis of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region of nuclear rDNA. The successful amplification of ITS
region from statoblasts and zooidial tubules allowed us to sequence this region on all the species investigated. The ITS sequences
showed the presence of sufficient and informative polymorphisms to discriminate among morphologically similar species. It
is noteworthy that the resulting ITS phylogenetic tree largely corroborated the distinction of at least two groups of freshwater
bryozoans inferred on the basis of the annular chamber pore morphology. This study provides innovative approaches to reliably
characterize freshwater bryozoans species and gain more insight into their taxonomy, phylogenetic relationship, and biodiversity. |
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