New record and phylogenetic affinities of the oomycete Olpidiopsis feldmanni infecting Asparagopsis sp. (Rhodophyta)

Dis Aquat Organ. 2015 Nov 17;117(1):45-57. doi: 10.3354/dao02930.

Abstract

A new geographic record of the oomycete Olpidiopsis feldmanni infecting the tetrasporophytic stage of the red alga Asparagopsis sp. from the Adriatic Sea, confirmed through morphological identification, allowed us to expand previous observations of this organism. Ultrastructural investigations of environmental material showed a large central vacuole and a cell wall thicker than previously reported from other basal oomycete pathogens of algae. Phylogenetic analysis closely associates O. feldmanni to O. bostrychiae concurrent with structural observations. This constitutes the first genetic characterisation of an Olpidiopsis species that was initially described before 1960, adding to the genetic data of 3 other marine Olpidiopsis species established and genetically characterised in the last 2 decades. The paper discusses concurrences of the ultrastructural observations made here and in previous studies of the marine Olpidiopsis species with those made on the freshwater species.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Oceans and Seas
  • Oomycetes / classification*
  • Oomycetes / genetics*
  • Phylogeny
  • Rhodophyta / parasitology*