Shedding light on the molecular apparatus of the shell formation process in testate amoeba (Amoebozoa:Arcellinida)

• Grant number: 19/22692-8
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology
• Principal researcher: Daniel José Galafasse Lahr
• Grantee: Alfredo Leonardo Porfirio de Sousa
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The emergence of evolutionary novelties is a central question in evolutionary biology. A scarcity of molecular data and bioinformatic tools have historically impaired the study of the origin and evolution of novelties. Currently, with the advance of molecular biology and bioinformatics, several works have proposed the evolutionary processes that underlie origin and evolution of novelties. The shell (test) is an evolutionary novelty in Arcellinida (Amoebozoa), one of the testate amoebae groups of Eukaryotes. Currently, our understanding of Arcellinida shell as an evolutionary novelty is impaired, since the molecular apparatus involved in shell formation process (thecagenesis) is unknown. Here we propose a combined transcriptomics, phylogenetics, and immunocytochemistry framework to study the molecular apparatus involved in shell formation and its evolutionary story; we aim to fill the gap that exists between morpho-cytological description and molecular data of thecagenesis in Arcellinida. Ultimately, we aim to establish Arcellinida shell as a model to study evolutionary novelties and propose the approach applied in the present project for other eukaryotic testate amoebae lineages. (AU)