Stramenopiles
Mitchell L. Sogin and David J. Patterson
This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.
You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.
For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.
close boxIntroduction
This grouping of protists arose largely from molecular studies which categorically confirmed that algae (previously referred to as Heterokonts or Chrysophytes) were related to a variety of non algal protists - such as the heterotrophic bicosoecid flagellates and the fungal oomycetes (Leipe et al, 1994). The group was informally named by Patterson (1989) and was based at that time on cytological evidence. The hairs which define this group are a distinctive subset of hairs encountered in protists, and are distinguished by having a long hollow shaft that gives rise to a small number of fine hairs, and the entire structure inserts into the cell by a basal region. These hairs usually occur on the flagella. A number of supposed stramenopiles are thought (opalines) or known (diatoms) to have lost the hairs. The stramenopiles is a very major grouping of eukaryotes containing some organisms with the largest linear dimensions known in the eukaryotic world (brown algae), as well as ecologically very important organisms - such as the diatoms.
Characteristics
Tubulocristate protists with tripartite tubular hairs or derived from such organisms.
References
Leipe, D.D., Wainright, P.O., Gunderson, J.H., Porter, D., Patterson, D.J.,Valois, F., Himmerich, S. and Sogin, M.L. (1994): The stramenopiles from a molecular perspective: 16S-like rRNA sequences from Labyrinthuloides minuta and Cafeteria roenbergensis. Phycologia. 33:369-377.
Patterson, D.J. (1989): Stramenopiles: chromophytes from a protistan perspective. In: Green J.C., Leadbeater B.S.C. and diver W.L. (eds): The chromophyte algae problems and perspectives, pp. 357-379. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Cymbella tumida |
|---|---|
| Acknowledgements | Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey |
| Scientific Name | Macrocystis |
|---|---|
| Location | Channel Islands, California, USA |
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Source | kelp geometry |
| Source Collection | Flickr |
| ToL Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 2.0.
|
| Copyright | © Tom Gruber |
About This Page
Mitchell L. Sogin
Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
David J. Patterson
Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
Page copyright © 1995 Mitchell L. Sogin and David J. Patterson
All Rights Reserved.
Citing this page:
Sogin, Mitchell L. and Patterson, David J. 1995. Stramenopiles. Version 01 January 1995 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Stramenopiles/2380/1995.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
