Message from David Kirk

I got an email out of the blue from David Kirk, and I thought some of it would be of interest. Dr. Kirk is one of the biggest names in Volvox research: he carried out much of the developmental genetics that forms the foundation of our field, he literally wrote the book on Volvox evo-devo, and my impression is that most of the PIs currently studying Volvox spent time in his lab as students and postdocs.

VolvoxBookCover

The email was prompted by the meeting review from the 2015 meeting in Cambridge (he liked it, whew! :-D), and he said that he’s looking forward to the 2017 meeting in St. Louis. The email also had a footnote with some interesting information, which I quote here with Dr. Kirk’s permission:

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Volvox meeting review online early

Fig. 1 from Herron 2016. Examples of volvocine species. (A) Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, (B) Gonium pectorale, (C) Astrephomene gubernaculiferum, (D) Pan- dorina morum, (E) Volvulina compacta, (F) Platydorina caudata, (G) Yamagishiella unicocca, (H) Colemanosphaera charkowiensis, (I) Eudorina elegans, (J) Pleodorina starrii, (K) Volvox barberi, (L) Volvox ovalis, (M) Volvox gigas, (N) Volvox aureus, (O) Volvox carteri. Figure Credit for A and B: Deborah Shelton.

Fig. 1 from Herron 2016. Examples of volvocine species. (A) Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, (B) Gonium pectorale, (C) Astrephomene gubernaculiferum, (D) Pandorina morum, (E) Volvulina compacta, (F) Platydorina caudata, (G) Yamagishiella unicocca, (H) Colemanosphaera charkowiensis, (I) Eudorina elegans, (J) Pleodorina starrii, (K) Volvox barberi, (L) Volvox ovalis, (M) Volvox gigas, (N) Volvox aureus, (O) Volvox carteri. Figure Credit for A and B: Deborah Shelton.

Pretty much what the title says: the meeting review from Volvox 2015 is online early at Molecular Ecology. That only took six months! This is the final, published version. Thanks for a great meeting, and thanks to everyone who read earlier drafts!

Chlamy 2016 registration open

Screenshot 2016-03-17 07.18.34

Registration and abstract submission for the 17th International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas (Chlamy 2016) are now open. The deadline for abstract submission is April 11th. The meeting will be at the Kyoto International Conference Center June 26-July 1. This year’s program includes a session on “Evolution, Chlamydomonadales / Volvocales.”

Volvox 2015 meeting review available online

Fig. 1 from Herron 2016. Examples of volvocine species. A: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, B: Gonium pectorale, C: Astrephomene gubernaculiferum, D: Pandorina morum, E: Volvulina compacta, F: Platydorina caudata, G: Yamagishiella unicocca, H: Colemanosphaera charkowiensis, I: Eudorina elegans, J: Pleodorina starrii, K: Volvox barberi, L: Volvox ovalis, M: Volvox gigas, N: Volvox aureus, O: Volvox carteri.

Fig. 1 from Herron 2016. Examples of volvocine species. A: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, B: Gonium pectorale, C: Astrephomene gubernaculiferum, D: Pandorina morum, E: Volvulina compacta, F: Platydorina caudata, G: Yamagishiella unicocca, H: Colemanosphaera charkowiensis, I: Eudorina elegans, J: Pleodorina starrii, K: Volvox barberi, L: Volvox ovalis, M: Volvox gigas, N: Volvox aureus, O: Volvox carteri. A and B by Deborah Shelton.

The meeting review for the Third International Volvox Conference is now available online at Molecular Ecology (doi: 10.1111/mec.13551). The editors warned me ahead of time that the challenge for this paper would be to make it of broad interest to the readership of Molecular Ecology, so there is a lot of background information that will be old news to members of the Volvox community.

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Volvox 2015: taxonomy, phylogeny & ecology

Volvox africanus

Volvox africanus (from Herron et al. 2010)

The worst-kept secret among Volvox researchers is that the current volvocine taxonomy is a train wreck. Within the largest family, the Volvocaceae, five nominal genera are polyphyletic (Pandorina, Volvulina, Eudorina, Pleodorina, and Volvox). Of the remaining three, two are monotypic (Platydorina and Yamagishiella). Only the newly described Colemanosphaera is monophyletic with more than one species. The extent of the problem was suspected long before it was confirmed by molecular phylogenetics, and ad hoc attempts to deal with it have led to the existence of such taxonomic abominations as ‘sections,’ ‘formas,’ and ‘syngens.’ An overhaul is called for, but it is complicated by the aforementioned loss of type cultures.

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DJ Volvox

This exists: DJ Volvox.

DJ Volvox

DJ Volvox

Volvox has been pushing the sound and spirit of underground dance culture since 2006. Her sensitive and energetic sets have made her a favorite among party devotees. No matter the situation she captures the crowd with everything from raw acid and EBM-flavored techno, to dreamy sensual deep house.

We should invite her to play Volvox 2017! I wonder if she projects Knut Drescher’s videos during her sets.

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Why don’t we revise volvocine taxonomy?

Volvocine taxonomy is in a sorry state. Most nominal genera, and some nominal species, are almost certainly polyphyletic. More than once, I’ve been asked during a talk, “Why is Volvox scattered all over the tree?”

JPhycol2010Fig2a

Fig. 2A from Herron et al. 2010. The traits characteristic of the genus Volvox—asexual forms with >500 cells, only a few of which are reproductive, and oogamy in sexual reproduction—have arisen at least three times independently: once in the section Volvox (represented by V. globator, V. barberi, and V. rousseletii), once in V. gigas, and once or possibly twice in the remaining Volvox species. Branch shading indicates maximum-parsimony reconstruction (white = absent, black = present, dashed = ambiguous). Pie charts indicate Bayesian posterior probabilities at selected nodes. Numbers to the left of cladograms indicate log-Bayes factors at selected nodes: positive = support for trait presence, negative = support for trait absence. Interpretation of log-Bayes factors is based on Kass and Raftery’s (1995) modification of Jeffreys (1961, Theory of probability. 3rd edn. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK.): 0 to 2, barely worth mentioning; 2 to 6, positive; 6 to 10, strong; >10, very strong. Boldface numbers following species names indicate Volvox developmental programs following Desnitski (1995).

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