| Polyplacotoma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Placozoa |
| Class: | Polyplacotomia |
| Order: | Polyplacotomea Tessler et al., 2022 |
| Family: | Polyplacotomidae Tessler et al., 2022 |
| Genus: | Polyplacotoma Osigus et al., 2019 |
| Species: | P. mediterranea
|
| Binomial name | |
| Polyplacotoma mediterranea Osigus et al., 2019
| |
Polyplacotoma mediterranea is a species in the phylum Placozoa, only representative of the genus Polyplacotoma.[1] They differ greatly from other species of placozoans with regards to their morphology and genetic makeup, and have been ranked in the separate class Polyplacotomia. P. mediterranea has the smallest mitogenome, the lowest GC content, and the smallest intergenic spacer regions of all placozoans. [1] Their bodily structure consists of elongated polytomous body branches, as well as a maximum size that is greater than 10 mm in length. The mitochondrial genome of Polyplacotoma mediterranea is also very compact and contains overlapping protein and tRNA gene codes.[2]
- ^ a b Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Rolfes, Sarah; Herzog, Rebecca; Kamm, Kai; Schierwater, Bernd (2019-03-04). "Polyplacotoma mediterranea is a new ramified placozoan species". Current Biology. 29 (5): R148–R149. Bibcode:2019CBio...29.R148O. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.068. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 30836080.
- ^ Miyazawa, Hideyuki; Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Rolfes, Sarah; Kamm, Kai; Schierwater, Bernd; Nakano, Hiroaki (7 January 2021). "Mitochondrial Genome Evolution of Placozoans: Gene Rearrangements and Repeat Expansions". Genome Biology and Evolution. 13 (1): 51–53. doi:10.1093/gbe/evaa213. PMC 7813641. PMID 3031489.