9712241 Triemer In a multi-institutional project to study the systematics and phylogeny of the commonly observed Euglena and its not-at-all-commonly seen protistan relatives, Prof. Richard Triemer of Rutgers University and colleagues Dr. Mark Farmer at University of Georgia and others have designed a comprehensive program of morphological and molecular investigatons of these unicellular flagellates. Morphological studies include traditional light-microscope observations, with electron-microscope investigations of subcellular features, on field-collected and laboratory-cultured material. Molecular studies include nucleotide sequencing of ribosomal and other genes, to acquire DNA data for assessing mutational differences between taxa, in turn for constructing phylogenetic trees that group the organisms with their genealogical relatives. Euglenoids include the commonly studied "green" or photosynthetic (autotrophic) forms, but are more commonly found in nature as colorless, heterotrophic forms that ingest other organisms as prey. Ultrastructural and new DNA data confirm that they are closely related to parasitic flagellates or trypanosomes, including forms that cause African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. These protistan groups may be among the earliest known lineages of eukaryotes with mitochondria, and with a fascinating propensity to harbor other symbiotic or partially symbiotic organelles. Research and training in a broad array of theoretical and practical issues in modern systematics involve colleagues in Australia and in Argentina, who also facilitate collecting of Southern Hemisphere taxa. The scientific names and classification of the euglenoids have been confused by a history of separate treatments under either the Botany Code (when considered "green" algae) or the Zoology Code (when considered predatory flagellates); one aspect of the project is to achieve concordance in the names of all the species and higher-rank taxa. Web-based products include high-quality images of the numerous forms, many of which are poorly known even to scientists, along with identification keys and descriptive treatments of the biological variation found among these organisms in nature.
