%0 Journal Article %A Song, Huiyin %A Hu, Yuxin %A Zhu, Huan %A Wang, Qinghua %A Liu, Guoxiang %A Hu, Zhengyu %T Three novel species of coccoid green algae within the Watanabea clade (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) %D 2016 %J International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, %V 66 %N 12 %P 5465-5477 %@ 1466-5034 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.001542 %K the Watanabea clade %K Coccoid green algae %K Phylogeny %K Trebouxiophyceae %I Microbiology Society, %X Coccoid green algae are extremely diverse despite their simple coccoid phenotype, a phenotype that may be the result of convergent evolution. In this study, we used a polyphasic approach combining molecular phylogenetic analyses, morphology and ultrastructure to investigate isolated coccoid strains from China, and our results reveal three new lineages of Trebouxiophyceae: the novel genus and species Mysteriochloris nanningensis gen. et sp. nov., and the two novel species Phyllosiphon coccidium sp. nov. and Desertella yichangensis sp. nov. (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta). We provide a detailed characterization of the novel microalgae which they are autosporic coccoid unicells and have parietal chloroplasts. In phylogenies based on 18S rDNA sequences and the chloroplast ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase gene (rbcL), these three algae are nested within the Watanabea clade and are different from any known algae. M. nanningensis FACHB-1787 is not really close to any known algae within the Watanabea clade. Phyllosiphoncoccidium FACHB-2212 is within the Phyllosiphon lineages. D. yichangensis FACHB-1793 is closely related to Desertella californica and described as a representative of a novel species of the genus Desertella. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.001542