Eudorina

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Eudorina elegans EPA.jpg

| image_caption = Eudorina elegans

| taxon = Eudorina

| authority = Ehrenberg

| type_species = Eudorina elegans

| type_species_authority = Ehrenberg{{AlgaeBase genus | id=43492 | title=Eudorina Ehrenberg, 1832 | access-date=2025-04-07 }}

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

}}

Eudorina is a genus of green algae in the family Volvocaceae,See the NCBI [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=34143 webpage on Eudorina]. Data extracted from the {{cite web | url=http://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/ | title=NCBI taxonomy resources | publisher=National Center for Biotechnology Information | accessdate=2007-03-19}} containing about seven species. It has a cosmopolitan distribution in freshwater habitats.{{cite book |editor-first1=John D.|editor-last1=Wehr|editor-first2=Robert G.|editor-last2=Sheath|editor-first3=J. Patrick|editor-last3=Kociolek |date= 2014 |edition=2 |title= Freshwater Algae of North America: Ecology and Classification |last1= Nakada|first1=Takashi| last2=Nozaki |first2=Hisayoshi |chapter= Chapter 6. Flagellate Green Algae |url= |location= |publisher= Elsevier Inc. |pages=265–313|isbn=978-0-12-385876-4 }}

Description

Eudorina colonies typically consist of 16, 32 or 64 cells, each of which is similar to Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. These cells are bedded within an extracellular matrix composed of glycoproteins. Colonies are spherical and motile, with motility derived from the flagellated individual cells. Cells are ovoid or spherical, each with two equal flagella. (In one species Eudorina compacta, the cells essentially touch each other, and are strikingly angular due to mutual compression.)

{{cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0224269 |doi-access=free |title=Morphology, phylogeny, and taxonomy of two species of colonial volvocine green algae from Lake Victoria, Tanzania |date=2019 |last1=Nozaki |first1=Hisayoshi |last2=Matsuzaki |first2=Ryo |last3=Kashindye |first3=Benedicto Boniphace |last4=Ezekiel |first4=Charles Nyarongo |last5=Shaban |first5=Sophia |last6=Kawachi |first6=Masanobu |last7=Aibara |first7=Mitsuto |last8=Nikaido |first8=Masato |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=14 |issue=11 |pages=e0224269 |pmid=31710621 |pmc=6844456 |bibcode=2019PLoSO..1424269N }} There is a single cup-shaped chloroplast with one (basal) or multiple pyrenoids) and a stigma. Multiple contractile vacuoles are scattered throughout the cytoplasm.

Eudorina is facultatively sexual, meaning colonies can reproduce either sexually or asexually.{{Cite journal|last=Coleman|first=AW|title=A Comparative Analysis of the Volvocaceae (Chlorophyta)1|year=2012|journal=Journal of Phycology|volume=48|issue=3|doi=10.1111/j.1529-8817.2012.01168.x|pages=491–513|pmid=27011065|s2cid=422091}} During development, each Chlamydomonas-like cell undergoes several rounds of division to form plakeas, which then invert to form daughter colonies before hatching out of the mother colony.{{Cite journal|last1=Gottlieb|last2=Goldstein|year=1977|title=Colony development in Eudorina elegans|journal=Journal of Phycology|volume=13|doi=10.1111/j.1529-8817.1977.tb02942.x|pages=358–364|s2cid=84910450}} Sexual reproduction is anisogamous; cells divide successively and differentiate into sperm packets, or develop into female gametes (without division).

File:Eudorina elegans phv.jpg

Taxonomy

Although the most common species of Eudorina (E. elegans) is very different from the most common species of Pandorina (P. morum), forms intermediate in morphology between Eudorina and Pandorina exist, such as Pandorina/Eudorina charkowiensis and Pandorina unicocca. These have been reclassified to other genera, namely Colemanosphaera and Yamagishiella, respectively. In particular, Eudorina is very similar to Yamagishiella, differing mainly in its mode of reproduction (anisogamous in Eudorina, isogamous in Yamagishiella) and number/placement of contractile vacuoles.{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/09670260701763484 |title=A taxonomic study of Eudorina unicocca (Volvocaceae, Chlorophyceae) and related species, based on morphology and molecular phylogeny |date=2008 |last1=Yamada |first1=Toshihiro K. |last2=Miyaji |first2=Kazuyuki |last3=Nozaki |first3=Hisayoshi |journal=European Journal of Phycology |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=317–326 |bibcode=2008EJPhy..43..317Y }}

Molecular phylogenetic studies show that Eudorina is paraphyletic with respect to Pleodorina and Volvox (excluding section Volvox). Taxonomically, Eudorina has been confused with Pleodorina. In particular, Eudorina illinoisensis (syn. Pleodorina illinoisensis) blurs the boundaries between the two genera by having four anterior cells which are facultatively somatic. Currently, Eudorina is distinguished from Pleodorina by the absence or presence of obligately somatic cells.{{AlgaeBase genus | id=43495 | title=Pleodorina W.R.Shaw, 1894 | access-date=2025-04-07 }}

Phylogenetic relationships are as follows (not all species of Eudorina are included:{{cite journal |last1=Nozaki |first1=Hisayoshi |title=Morphology, molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of two new species of Pleodorina (Volvocaceae, Chlorophyceae) |journal=Journal of Phycology |date=2006 |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=1072–1080 |doi=10.1111/j.1529-8817.2006.00255.x |bibcode=2006JPcgy..42.1072N |s2cid=84730352 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1529-8817.2006.00255.x |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 June 2024 |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515142550/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1529-8817.2006.00255.x |url-status=live }}{{cite journal|doi=10.1186/s12915-021-01087-0|doi-access=free |title=Phylotranscriptomics points to multiple independent origins of multicellularity and cellular differentiation in the volvocine algae |date=2021 |last1=Lindsey |first1=Charles Ross |last2=Rosenzweig |first2=Frank |last3=Herron |first3=Matthew D. |journal=BMC Biology |volume=19 |issue=1 |page=182 |pmid=34465312 |pmc=8408923 |bibcode=2021BMCB...19..182L }}{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/gbe/evad142 |title=A Reinvestigation of Multiple Independent Evolution and Triassic–Jurassic Origins of Multicellular Volvocine Algae |date=2023 |last1=Ma |first1=Xiaoya |last2=Shi |first2=Xuan |last3=Wang |first3=Qiuping |last4=Zhao |first4=Mengru |last5=Zhang |first5=Zhenhua |last6=Zhong |first6=Bojian |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |volume=15 |issue=8 |pmid=37498572 |pmc=10410301 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Lindsey |first1=Charles Ross |last2=Knoll |first2=Andrew H. |last3=Herron |first3=Matthew D. |last4=Rosenzweig |first4=Frank |date=2024-04-10 |title=Fossil-calibrated molecular clock data enable reconstruction of steps leading to differentiated multicellularity and anisogamy in the Volvocine algae |journal=BMC Biology |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=79 |doi=10.1186/s12915-024-01878-1 |issn=1741-7007 |pmid=38600528 |doi-access=free|pmc=11007952 |bibcode=2024BMCB...22...79L }}

{{clade

|1=

{{clade

|1=Yamagishiella (outgroup)

|2={{clade

|1=Eudorina minodii + Eudorina elegans pro parte + Eudorina compacta

|2={{clade

|1=Pleodorina thompsonii

|2={{clade

|1=Eudorina unicocca + Eudorina peripheralis

|2=Eudorina cylindrica + Eudorina illinoisensis + Eudorina elegans pro parte

|3={{clade