Preliminary morphological and molecular analyses on free-living ciliates from South Africa

This contribution was presented as a poster within Poster Session I at the IX European Congress of Protistology (ECOP) and annual Congress of the International Society of Protistologists (ISOP), held in Vienna (Austria) in 2023.

The work, entitled “Preliminary morphological and molecular analyses on free-living ciliates from South Africa”, was authored by A. Lenti, A. Allievi, V. Serra, and G. Petroni.

The contribution focused on the preliminary morphological and molecular characterisation of free-living ciliates from South Africa, contributing to the understanding of protist diversity in understudied ecosystems. The study highlights the importance of combining morphological observations and molecular data to support accurate species identification and to improve biodiversity assessments.

In parallel, the contribution was scientifically connected to a dedicated NGTax (Next Generation Taxonomy) session, organised by G. Petroni and V. Serra, held on Thursday, 13 July 2023 (Room C1), which included several oral presentations addressing different aspects of Next Generation Taxonomy, symbiosis, and protist biology, including:

15:30–15:45 – A new litostomatean (Ciliophora) species from Tuscany described according to NGTax standards (A. Allievi)
15:45–16:00 – Transcriptomic response triggered by bacterial infection in Paramecium (A. Potekhin)
16:00–16:15 – Contributions to the mobilid genus Leiotrocha (G. de Jager)
16:15–16:30 – Evolutionary origins and diversification of Rickettsiales associations (M. Castelli)
16:30–16:45 – Holospora-like bacteria and symbiont biology (S. Fokin)
16:45–17:00 – Integrative taxonomic data on ciliate diversity in African and European aquatic ecosystems (M. Owuor)
17:00–17:15 – Multigene family of surface antigens in Paramecium species (M. Simon)
17:15–17:30 – Mitogenomic approaches to ciliate phylogeny (L. Gammuto)

Within this broader scientific framework, the contribution supported the dissemination of NGTax methodologies and promoted scientific exchange on taxonomy, microbial diversity, and integrative approaches in protistology within the international scientific community. The contribution is accessible via the official conference repository