Choanoflagellatea
Choanoflagellates are a group of free-living unicellular and colonial flagellate eukaryotes considered to be the closest living relatives of animals. The name refers to the characteristic funnel-shaped "collar" of interconnected microvilli and the presence of a flagellum. Choanoflagellates are found globally in aquatic environments, and they are of particular interest to evolutionary biologists studying the origins of multicellularity in animals.
Species
襟鞭毛虫綱
CLASS
- KingdomProtozoa
- PhylumChoanozoa
- ClassChoanoflagellatea
Habitatmarine, brackish, freshwater
via GBIF
Research
255 papers- The evolution of ependymin-related proteins.BMC evolutionary biology · 2018
- Biogeographical distribution of Hartaetosiga strains (Choanoflagellatea, Craspedida, Salpingoecidae) including morphological and transcriptomic data from a transect across the Atlantic Ocean.The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology · 2023
- Symbiosis: In search of a deeper understanding.PLoS biology · 2024
- Higher level taxonomy and molecular phylogenetics of the Choanoflagellatea.
Article
16 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Appearance
- Ecology
- Life cycle
- Silicon biomineralization
- Classification
- Relationship to metazoans
- Phylogenetic relationships
- Taxonomy
- Genomes and transcriptomes
- ''Monosiga brevicollis'' genome
- ''Salpingoeca rosetta'' genome
- Other genomes
- Transcriptomes
- References
- External links
Choanoflagellates are a group of free-living unicellular and colonial flagellate eukaryotes considered to be the closest living relatives of animals. The name refers to the characteristic funnel-shaped "collar" of interconnected microvilli and the presence of a flagellum. Choanoflagellates are found globally in aquatic environments, and they are of particular interest to evolutionary biologists studying the origins of multicellularity in animals.
The flagellum of choanoflagellates is surrounded by microvilli at its base. Movement of the flagellum creates water currents that can propel free-swimming choanoflagellates through the water column and trap bacteria and detritus against the microvilli, where these foodstuffs are engulfed. This feeding plays an ecological role in the carbon cycle by linking different trophic levels.