Genetic variability and taxonomic revision of the genus Auxenochlorella (Shihira et Krauss) Kalina et Puncocharova (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta).

The monotypic genus Auxenochlorella with its type species A. protothecoides is so far only known from specific habitats such as the sap of several tree species. Several varieties were described according to physiological performances in culture on different organic substrates. However, two strains designated as Auxenochlorella were isolated from other habitats (an endosymbiont of Hydra viridis and an aquatic strain from an acidic volcano stream). We studied those isolates and compared them with six strains of Auxenochlorella belonging to different varieties. The integrative approach used in this study revealed that all strains showed similar morphology but differed in their SSU and ITS rDNA sequences. The Hydra endosymbiont formed a sister taxon to A. protothecoides, which included the varieties protothecoides, galactophila, and communis. The variety acidicola is not closely related to Auxenochlorella and represented its own lineage within the Trebouxiophyceae. In view of these results, we propose a new species of Auxenochlorella, A. symbiontica, for the Hydra symbiont, and a new genus Pumiliosphaera, with its type species, P. acidophila, for acidophilic strain. These results are supported by several compensatory base changes in the conserved region of ITS-2 and ITS-2 DNA barcodes.