Rappephyceae

Rappephyceae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Phylum: Haptista
Subphylum: Haptophytina
Class: Rappephyceae
M. Kawachi, R. Kamikawa & T. Nakayama, 2021[1]
Orders

Rappephyceae, or Rappemonads, are a small family of protists first described in 2011, of uncertain phylogenic affinity.[2] It has been discussed as a possible member of a larger clade Haptophyta.[3] This newly identified taxonomic class of phytoplankton are named after a professor from the Hawai’i institute of marine biology, known as Michael Rappé. Rappé discovered these phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean and published his findings on their DNA in 1998.[4] Current research has shown that these organisms provide an immense amount of nutritional molecules, such as oxygen, for other organisms using biochemical processes like photosynthesis and carbon fixation.[1]

  1. ^ a b Kawachi, Masanobu; Nakayama, Takuro; Kayama, Motoki; Nomura, Mami; Miyashita, Hideaki; Bojo, Othman; Rhodes, Lesley; Sym, Stuart; Pienaar, Richard N.; Probert, Ian; Inouye, Isao; Kamikawa, Ryoma (June 2021). "Rappemonads are haptophyte phytoplankton" (PDF). Current Biology. 31 (11): 2395–2403.e4. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.012. PMID 33773100. S2CID 232369943.
  2. ^ Kim, Eunsoo; Harrison, James W.; Sudek, Sebastian; Jones, Meredith D. M.; Wilcox, Heather M.; Richards, Thomas A.; Worden, Alexandra Z.; Archibald, John M. (25 January 2011). "Newly identified and diverse plastid-bearing branch on the eukaryotic tree of life". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108 (4): 1496–1500. doi:10.1073/pnas.1013337108. PMC 3029697. PMID 21205890.
  3. ^ Cavalier-Smith, Thomas; Chao, Ema E.; Lewis, Rhodri (December 2015). "Multiple origins of Heliozoa from flagellate ancestors: New cryptist subphylum Corbihelia, superclass Corbistoma, and monophyly of Haptista, Cryptista, Hacrobia and Chromista". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 93: 331–362. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.07.004. PMID 26234272.
  4. ^ "New class of marine phytoplankton named for UH professor" (Press release). University of Hawaiʻi. 22 April 2021. ProQuest 2516733806.