Characterization of Allobodo yubaba sp. nov. and Novijibodo darinka gen. et sp. nov., cultivable free‐living species of the phylogenetically enigmatic kinetoplastid taxon Allobodonidae

AbstractKinetoplastids are a large and diverse protist group, spanning ecologically important free‐living forms to medically important parasites. The taxon Allobodonidae holds an unresolved position within kinetoplastids, and the sole described species, Allobodo chlorophagus, is uncultivated, being a necrotroph/parasite of macroalgae. Here we describe Allobodo yubaba sp. nov. and Novijibodo darinka gen. nov. et sp. nov., both free‐living bacterivores isolated into monoeukaryotic cultures. Electron microscopy shows that both A. yubaba and N. darinka have a microtubular prism in the feeding apparatus (absent in A. chlorophagus), and an ovoid eukinetoplast, rather than pan‐kDNA as in A. chlorophagus. Phylogenetic analyses of SSU rDNA sequences robustly place A. yubaba as the sister to A. chlorophagus, while N. darinka branches separately within Allobodonidae, as a sister group of undescribed freshwater isolates. We view Allobodonidae as containing at least four genus‐level clades: Allobodo (A. chlorophagus and A. yubaba n. sp.), an undescribed fresh‐water clade, an undescribed marine clade, and now Novijibodo—with N. darinka as its sole known member. Electron microscopy also revealed a rod‐shaped gram‐negative bacterial cytoplasmic endosymbiont in our N. darinka isolate. The availability of these species in monoeukaryotic culture should facilitate future research, including resolving the position of Allobodonidae using phylogenomic approaches.