Primary structure of theParamecium tetraurelia small-subunit rRNA coding region: Phylogenetic relationships within the caliophora

Abstract

We have sequenced the coding region for the small-subunit rRNA gene fromParamecium tetraurelia. Similarity comparisons between smallsubunit rRNAs from representative of the Metazoa, the Plantae, the Fungi and four other members of the Ciliophora were used to construct phylogenetic trees. In these phylogenies the Ciliophora diverged from the eukaryotic line of descent as a loose phylogenetic grouping during a radiative period that gave rise to the Fungi, the Plantae and the Metazoa.