Trentepohlia (alga)

For the crane fly genus, see Trentepohlia (insect).
Trentepohlia
Trentepohlia sp.
on Cryptomeria japonica bark
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Viridiplantae
Phylum: Chlorophyta
Class: Ulvophyceae
Order: Trentepohliales
Family: Trentepohliaceae
Genus: Trentepohlia Mart.
Species
  • T. arborum
  • T. aurea
  • T. dialepta
  • T. sp. UTEX 1227
  • T. iolithus
  • T. abietina
  • T. annulata
  • T. umbrina
  • T. sp. Knysna 563
  • T. sp. SAG 117.80

Trentepohlia is a genus of filamentous chlorophyte green algae in the family Trentepohliaceae, living free on terrestrial supports such as tree trunks and wet rocks or symbiotically in lichens.[1] The filaments of Trentepohlia have a strong orange colour (photograph at right) caused by the presence of large quantities of carotenoid pigments which mask the green of the chlorophyll. The spores of Trentepohlia annulata were found to be the source of an incident of red rain in Kerala, India.[2]

Trentepohlia species form associations with fungal hyphae, and are widespread phycobionts in lichens, such as the "secret writing" crustose lichen genera Graphis, Graphina, Gyalecta and Opegrapha.[3][4]

Red Rain Mystery

A 2015 study[2] has unambiguously established that the cause of blood rain in Kerala was the areal spores of green microalgae Trentepohlia. The study used molecular phylogenetics to compare the evolution of DNA sequence of T. annulata isolated from blood rain sample with that of T. annulata from Austria. Results suggest that the isolate from Kerala is, in fact, a recently introduced species from Austria. The research confirmed the likelihood that the introduction happened through clouds over the ocean- a phenomenon of intercontinental species dispersal previously reported for bacteria and fungi, but first time for the alga. Clouds over ocean dispersal is analogous to the intercontinental flights; spores of this alga from Europe are transported to India via clouds that drift across the Arabian Sea. Spores might have been carried first to the clouds for its dispersal. How exactly these lower stratospheric clouds containing algal spores got in Kerala remain unknown. Might be related to monsoon as well, as Kerala is the first state South-West monsoon strikes together with Sri Lanka. Again, trade winds (SE and NE) converge at a region called Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which is located close to Kerala and Sri Lanka, which might be another clue for this puzzle. Authors said [5] their steps would be the analysis of intercontinental clouds using High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filters, using the similar DNA sequence based technique called “metagenomics”, which would reveal the entire microbial diversity of these clouds.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ See the NCBI webpage on Trentepohlia. Data extracted from the "NCBI taxonomy resources". National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  2. 1 2 BAST, F, BHUSHAN, S., JOHN A.A., ACHANKUNJU, J., PANIKKAR N.M.V., HEMETNER, C., AND STOCKER-WÖRGÖTTE, E. 2015 European Species of Subaerial Green Alga Trentepohlia annulata (Trentepohliales, Ulvophyceae) Caused Blood Rain in Kerala, India. J Phylogen Evolution Biol 3: 144 < URL
  3. ↑ F.S. Dobson (2000) Lichens, an illustrated guide to the British and Irish species. Richmond publishing Co. ISBN 0-85546-094-6
  4. ↑ T. Friedl and B. Büdel (1996) Photobionts, in Nash, T.H. (ed.) Lichen biology, pp.8-23, Cambridge University Press.
  5. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/unravelling-the-blood-rain-mystery/article7057859.ece

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Trentepohliaceae

Scientific references

Scientific databases


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