Studies on biodiversity and phylogeny of soil protists, with special reference to soil flagellates.

鞭毛虫是具有鞭毛的单细胞生物的集合体。我国对日本土壤中鞭毛虫的研究还比较薄弱。我们的目的是调查日本土壤鞭毛虫的生物多样性和系统发育的亲和力。我们建立了180多个培养菌株，并对其进行了光学和电子显微镜研究。我们还研究了分子系统发育的亲缘关系。结果，我们鉴定了24个属（>50种，但确切的物种数仍有待确定），代表5个原生动物门。我们还表明，广泛的多样化发生在土壤中，独立的海洋或淡水栖息地的副棘单胞菌。

The flagellates are an assemblage of unicellular organisms with flagella. Our knowledge on the flagellates inhabiting soil habitats in Japan was rather poor. We aimed to investigate biodiversity and phylogenetic affinities of Japanese soil flagellates. We have established over 180 culture strains and studied them with light and electron microscopy. We also investigated phylogenetic relationships by molecular phylogeny. As a result, we identified 24 genera (>50 spp., but exact species number is still to be determined) representing 5 protistan phyla. We also demonstrated that extensive diversification of Paraphysomonas took place in soil, independent of marine or freshwater habitats.