PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY

PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY
Proceedings of VI International Congress of Protozoology
Special Congress Volume of ACTA PROTOZOOLOGICA
part II, pp. 243-266, 1984
The Molecular Diversity and Evolutionary Antiquity
of the Tetrahymenci pyriformis
Species Complex
D. L. N ANNE Y 1
Department of Genetics and Development, University of Illinois,
Urbana, II. 61801, USA
Symposium A
(1) Evolutionary Events Can be Reconstructed from the Comparative
Anatomy of Molecules
In the 19th Century a major tool for reconstructing evolutionary
events was comparative morphology, and this tool continues to be an
essential instrument of the evolutionist. Improved technologies, however,
enable us to compare structures of ever smaller dimensions; comparative
ultra-structural analysis is becoming a powerful means of probing
protozoan phylogenies. The ultimate comparative anatomy is, however,
the comparative anatomy of molecules. We are now able to detect sequence
differences in the components (nucleotides or amino acids) of
the major informational macromolecules, and we are beginning to acquire
the ability to compare secondary and tertiary configurations also. A major
advantage of comparative biochemistry is that it reveals relationships
much deeper into the past, even beyond the records of the rocks
into the remote times of life's beginnings.
A recent splendid example of the uses of comparative molecular
biology is provided by the work of Carl W o e s e and his colleagues
(W o e s e 1981) on the nucleic components of the ribosomal apparatus.
Paper presented at Symposium A on July 9 at VI International Congress of
Protozoology, Warsaw, Poland, 5-11 July 1981.
1 Work partially supported by grants (GM-07779, AG-00010) from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
http://rcin.org.pl